Fade to Blue
by Zynali
Summary: She knew that he was only pretending to be fine, that he was fading away. But could she bring him back? And even if she succeeded, would he choose her? Damon and AU Rebecca.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **_I've been working on a couple of longer stories (including the sequel to "Blood and Ashes" for those who have read that story), but this one-shot popped into my head today and insisted on being written down. So here it is. It's a little different from what I usually write. I hope you like it, and if you do (or even if you don't), I would love a review._

**Disclaimer:** _Unfortunately, I don't own _The Vampire Diaries_ or Damon. I do own Rebecca._

**Fade to Blue**

Damon Salvatore was quite a sight to wake up to after three hundred years. As Rebecca gasped her way back to life beside her brother Elijah, one of the first people that she saw was the black-haired, blue-eyed vampire, and she wondered what kind of world she was waking up in where she was lucky enough to see a face like his. She learned quickly that it was a world just as ugly and brutal and painful as the one she had last died in.

She learned about the man and woman who had awakened her, vampire and doppelganger, Damon and Elena. She learned that they were pursuing her own brother, Klaus, to rescue another vampire, Stefan, Damon's brother and Elena's boyfriend, who had given up his soul to save Damon's life. She saw both the bond between Damon and Elena and the horrible tension between them, and she watched as Elena played on Damon's emotions, as she manipulated him to play the role that she wanted him to play in this drama. Rebecca knew that Elena didn't toy with Damon on purpose, that she acted from her own guilt and ignorance and soul-crushing pain, but she felt for Damon nonetheless as she saw him buffeted by the power of his own emotions and Elena's. And as months wore on and the crazy, epic quest continued, she realized that she had fallen for Damon. She loved the intensity that he brought to everything that he did, his fearlessness, his sarcasm, and of course his stunning body that she had seen just enough of to fuel every fantasy that a woman who was either seven hundred or a thousand years old (depending on whether you counted the dead years) could have.

And she watched as the smart, funny, insanely beautiful man who made her want to live slowly faded. A drunken Damon had confessed to her one night what had happened between him and Elena when he lay dying of a wolf bite. He had told her how Katherine had saved him, only to condemn him with her words, "It's okay to love them both. I did." Those words had ensured that Elena would see any feelings for Damon as turning her into Katherine, ensured that Elena would stay loyal to Stefan to the bitter end, ensured that Damon's love would remain unrequited. Voice breaking, Damon had admitted that he had thought he would be okay with that, thought he could go on like before, but it had gotten harder and harder as they had searched for Klaus and Stefan and he had realized just how lost his brother was, how alone he was. She watched him blame himself for all of it, and the fire in his eyes dimmed day by day. It was almost imperceptible, and she didn't think anyone else noticed.

One of the pitfalls of eternal life was that the desire to live wasn't always as resilient as the body. Before Klaus had killed her, she had seen generations of vampires come and go. She knew all the danger moments – when you first had to disappear completely from the lives of friends and family, when those friends and family died and left you with nothing but memories, when the world had changed so much that memories became the stuff of history and legend – and Damon had made it through each of those with his will to live intact. Now, though, just when she had been brought back to life and she wanted _him_ to show her how to live in this crazy new world of the twenty-first century, she could see that will fading.

Still, she had hope. He teased her, drank with her, christened her with the modern nickname of Becca, and she pretended that she didn't know just like he pretended that he was fine. She hoped that maybe she could make him fine again, that maybe he could move on from Elena and love her.

Then the battle with Klaus came. The casualties were high on both sides. Their side had lost Bonnie and three other witches, Tyler and most of his pack of werewolves, Jeremy and Matt and various other humans whose deaths Klaus (or Stefan?) thought would break Elena's will to continue. Katherine was finally dead, along with a dozen other vampires who had joined the conflict on one side or the other. Damon had kept his promises and saved his brother, dragging Stefan away from Klaus just moments before the witches had struck the killing blow against her own brother, but the backlash of the spell had hit the Salvatore brothers with full force. They had found both of them unconscious, bodies shredded by the power of the magic unleashed, Damon sprawled on top of his little brother to protect him with his own body. And that protection had made a difference, as Stefan had woken up a day later while Damon remained in a coma a week after the battle.

But Damon was a vampire after all, and they had gotten blood into him almost immediately after the fighting, even before the retching and the crying had stopped (hell, the crying still hadn't stopped). Becca knew that his body was healed now and the question was whether Damon wanted to come back to that body, whether he wanted to return to the eternal life that had brought him very little happiness.

She was afraid that she knew the answer, because she was watching him look paler and more distant every day as he lay in the middle of his huge bed. Elena wasn't helping as she flitted between Damon's room upstairs and the cell in the basement where they had locked Stefan the ripper, marking her territory with tears for both brothers. It was when Elena wasn't there that Becca picked up Damon's limp and lifeless hand and wished she could ask him to come back and be with her.

Finally she knew that Stefan had regained some control because Elena hadn't been back to Damon's room in many hours and the crying coming from the basement had a different tone to it. Becca brushed a lock of black hair from Damon's face. "Your brother is back," she told him, but he didn't stir. She had a bad feeling that he didn't want to watch Stefan and Elena rekindle their epic love story – and it would undoubtedly piss Stefan off if Damon up and died now, after everything. From what she had heard, Damon liked to piss Stefan off.

It was time to take, as they say, drastic measures. She was an Original, and she could force her way into Damon's mind if she had to, but she didn't want that. So she lay down next to him, took his hand, and asked for admittance as his friend, and to her surprise, he let her in.

She was on a beach, and Damon was sitting in a chair, holding a drink and looking out at the ocean. A second chair beside him sat empty. She tried not to notice that he was wearing only swim trunks, black of course, because that wasn't the point (although she was starting to like the way people dressed, or rather didn't, in this century). Looking down, she saw that she was wearing a flowing sundress. She wondered if that was her choice or his.

"This is a rather generic fantasy," she said. "I think I've seen this beach in – what do you call it – a beer commercial?"

Damon shrugged. "I'm a simple guy."

"No, you are not."

"Did you interrupt my beach vacation to tell me that?"

"Is that chair for me?" She knew that it wasn't.

He knew it too. "Sure, have a seat."

"It is very quiet here."

"I like quiet."

"Really? That is not what I have heard."

His smile was crooked and wistful, and to her it was still brighter than the sun. "Got me there. Maybe I'm tired."

"You are too young to be tired yet." She lied. She understood all too well what it meant to be tired of living and fighting. That was part of how Klaus had gotten the jump on her three hundred years ago. And she understood why Damon was tired of it all.

"I'm old enough."

"Talk to me when you pass five hundred." She didn't say "if" even though she thought it.

The waves lapped at the beach, and the sun beat down on them both. She watched Damon lie back and close his eyes. "Why are you here, Becca?"

"Are you coming back?"

She knew he was debating whether to lie to her. "Not planning on it."

She didn't know how to tell him that he would be missed, how to ask him to change his mind. Give or take, it had been half a millennium since she had bothered with emotions, including the dead years. It had been so long that she wasn't sure that emotions themselves hadn't changed. "That is unfortunate. I need someone to teach me how to use a computer."

Ice blue eyes rolled, but he smiled. "Anyone can do that."

"I am a slow learner."

"I doubt that. But I have no patience, so I'm not sure what you want with me." The smile was still there, however. "Besides, you have all your siblings back now. You can take a group class."

She raised her eyebrows in an expression she might have learned from him. "I will need a private tutor. I believe you are familiar with the concept of sibling rivalry?"

Damon laughed at that. It was a husky, beautiful, rare sound, and he followed with tentative words. "How is Stefan?"

"He will be fine. He might even be out of the basement by now."

"That's good. I'm glad." There was no sound but the waves and the soft wind, and she knew he spoke the truth.

"He will be angry with you if you do not come back."

"What else is new? He's always angry at me." He didn't say that Stefan had Elena to keep him company and comfort him, but she guessed that he was thinking it.

The quiet was growing on her, and part of her wanted to stay there with him, but she had felt the quiet of death for a very long time. She wanted to live with him, to explore her new world with him, not to die with him. Still if she could make him laugh again. . . . But she felt someone calling her back to the real world. She spoke reluctantly. "I have to go."

The sea and the sky could have been contained in Damon's eyes as they met hers. "Thank you for coming."

She wanted to tell him that he was unlike anyone she had met in centuries, but the right words wouldn't come. "I like your beach, even if it is from a commercial." She looked around one last time, pretending she wasn't fixing him in her memory. When you had lived as long as she had, eventually memories were all you had left. And then even they started to fade.

She opened her eyes, and she was back on his bed. Elena was staring at her, big brown eyes wide with shock and hand tightly clenched with Stefan's.

She felt a sick but horribly familiar sense of loss. Damon wasn't coming back. But then she felt movement beside her on the bed. She turned to meet sparkling blue eyes and a crooked smile. The smile was for her. "For the record, I would have put you in a bikini."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **_I have been working on turning this one-shot into a full story over the summer and holding onto it so I wasn't juggling too many stories at once. But clearly it's time to start posting it before it ends up any more AU than it already is. Obviously, the show actually creating an Original named Rebekah complicates things for this story (that's what I get for trying to choose a name that made historical sense!), but I've decided to keep my Rebecca as is. Obviously she has a very different history from the character on the show - she has been dead for 300 years, not just since the 1920s, and most importantly, she has never had any interest in Stefan! (Why does every female character on the show have to be in love with Stefan? I don't get it. But I digress.) Do let me know if you think it is too confusing to keep the name "Rebecca," however._

_This story will have a bit less action than my other stories (although there will be some, of course). It is more of a character study and love story with a focus on the relationships. I should probably also mention that I killed off an awful lot of characters in the first chapter since I intended it to be a one-shot, but amazingly there are still plenty left for a story. TVD has a lot of characters! I very much appreciate all feedback and reviews.  
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**Disclaimer: **_I do not own _The Vampire Diaries_ or any of the characters from the show. I do own Rebecca, who I consider a distinct character from the Rebekah on the show._**  
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**Chapter 2**

Elena was confused. She had brought Stefan upstairs as soon as she could, hoping that he could somehow reach Damon and get him to wake up, only to find Rebecca lying beside Damon on the bed, holding his hand and no more awake than he was. Scared, she had called for Elijah, but the Original hadn't looked particularly worried at the sight. He had simply touched Becca's arm and stepped back.

Then suddenly Becca had opened her eyes, and a second later, Damon had followed. He had smiled at Becca and made some cryptic and nonsensical comment about a bikini. Part of Elena wanted to throw herself at Damon and either hug him or hit him for scaring her, but her hand was locked in Stefan's and the bikini comment threw her off – although it was Damon, so she probably shouldn't even be surprised that he would wake up from a coma thinking about girls in bikinis. Ultimately, she just stood there looking at him. "I'm really glad you're okay, Damon." And then, because she couldn't let him off too easy, "And don't scare us like that again, okay?"

Damon's voice sounded weak. "I won't as long as Stefan promises not to make any more deals. You need to work on your bargaining skills, little brother."

Stefan smiled. "And you need to work on your rescuing skills."

"Yeah, you know that's never really been my thing. I've always been better at causing trouble than getting people out of it." But Damon smiled as he spoke, and Elena wondered if there was a chance things might go back to normal now. Whatever normal had become.

•••••

Finally Damon was left alone to lie back on his bed and wonder what he had gotten himself into. Or was it back into? He felt like crap, and he didn't think he would be moving any time soon. Luckily Becca reappeared a moment later with a glass of blood.

He took it with a hand that shook. "You could have warned me that I would feel this bad." Weak was really the operative word, but he didn't want her to think he was weak.

She perched on a corner of his bed. "You will be fine. You just need a bit more time, and blood. It was rather hard to get you to drink while you were unconscious. And besides, I was trying to talk you _into_ coming back, not out of it."

She had a point, he thought, and at least the blood was microwaved just the way he liked it.

Becca continued to talk while he drank. "Elijah is going to be traveling to visit our siblings, help them get settled. He wants me to come." Damon kept his face expressionless. It would be just his luck for her to convince him to come back and then leave him with Elena and his brooding brother. He had been surprised that Becca – that anyone, really – had cared enough to ask him to live, and he had made a spontaneous decision to follow her back (Damon was nothing if not impulsive, after all). He knew that, over the months of chasing Klaus, it had been Becca who sought out his company and helped him hold himself almost together as he and Elena engaged in their little dance of flirtation and avoidance and recrimination. And he was surprised by just how much he didn't want the other vampire to leave now. Her next words gave him hope. "But I think I will stay here."

He tried to play it cool. "I'm glad. Apparently I need a nurse." Then inspiration struck. "Elena has a costume you could borrow." Yep, the image of Becca in a naughty nurse costume would fuel his fantasies for a while.

"Why would I need a costume?"

Damon realized that half his meaning had been lost in cultural translation and of course it was the dirty half. "Uh, it's hard to explain. Never mind." For the first time in a very long time, Damon was in no way prepared to flirt shamelessly with a beautiful woman. He was off his game because he had just woken up and his whole body hurt. Yeah, that was his excuse.

She glared at him. "Maybe I should ask Elena? Or is it a male thing? Should I ask Elijah or Stefan?"

Damon tried to picture either Stefan or Elijah in that conversation. He burst out laughing and couldn't stop. "Fuck, don't make me laugh. It hurts."

"I did nothing. You made yourself laugh. I do not even know what is funny." But apparently his laughter was contagious because she started laughing too, and he thought that the house hadn't heard laughter like that in a long time. And over the next few days, it was Becca who helped Damon as he slowly regained his strength. He tried to convince himself that it was just as well that she never showed up in the costume.

•••••

After that Damon and Becca settled into a routine that differed from the previous few months largely in the absence of an urgent quest to kill Klaus. They went to the Grill to drink and play pool and darts, usually with Ric. Sometimes Elena or Stefan or Caroline wanted to come too, and then they usually went somewhere else since Elena and Caroline wanted to avoid the Grill. Too many memories, they said, and everyone could sympathize.

Damon taught her to use a computer and drive a car and various other skills to survive in the twenty-first century. Elena or Caroline stepped in when they didn't consider Damon to be qualified to serve as a tutor, although in his opinion far too many of those so-called lessons required borrowing his credit card. By all accounts, Becca adapted to modern life remarkably well.

They celebrated the one-month anniversary of their defeat of Klaus at a bar in nearby Fells' Church. Becca and Caroline sat at their booth, watching Damon and Stefan playing pool across the room as Elena cheered on Stefan. Becca's eyes followed Damon's lithe, graceful movements until her thoughts were interrupted by Caroline's slightly breathy voice. "What's it like to live forever?"

Becca turned her attention to the young vampire. She thought for a moment before she spoke. "It is lonely."

Caroline looked distressed. "Didn't you have friends . . . before Klaus killed you? Like other vampires, witches, even humans?"

Becca didn't want to think too much about the past. "I did." She stopped there.

Caroline refused to take the hint. "What happened to them?"

Becca shrugged. "They died." Once again she didn't elaborate.

Caroline, being Caroline, pressed on. "Even the vampires?" Becca nodded, and Caroline looked nonplused for a moment before asking another question. "Was there a special guy? Someone you loved?"

"A couple of times. I never had much time with any of them. The last one was a woman, though." Becca thought of the last person she had truly loved, centuries ago. Areinh had been beautiful, with fiery red hair that matched her personality. And she had been passionate, intense, impulsive, reckless, and brave, and those characteristics had gotten her staked only twenty years after she and Becca had met. Becca had slaughtered every vampire involved in Areinh's death, and she had put aside her emotions after that. Becca thought sadly that she had forgotten the sound of her lover's voice, and she realized, as her eyes fell on Damon again, that maybe she had a type after all. There had been many men and a few women since Areinh, but none that she had truly loved. She held a small hope that a certain sarcastic black-haired vampire might change that story.

Caroline looked completely flabbergasted. "You're a lesbian?" The blond vampire's gaze flicked to where Damon stood by the pool table. "But I thought . . . " She stopped.

Becca wondered when she had become so transparent. She smiled to cover her consternation. "I do not discriminate. When you live long enough, you . . . try everything. I care less about my partner's gender than who they are." She found it funny how the people of the twenty-first century thought they were the only ones who had engaged in sexual experimentation.

Caroline was looking at her curiously. "I suppose that makes sense." She hesitated before asking another question. "Have people changed much? What were men like, back then?"

"Back when?" Becca's response was automatic. Caroline either hadn't thought about her question or hadn't thought much about the past (should she blame Alaric the history teacher for that?). "People are taller now." She thought for a moment before offering a real answer. "I have hardly been alive again long enough to say if people have changed. I suppose that they are not so different." It was her turn to hesitate before deciding to continue. "Many men that I knew over the centuries were . . . uncomfortable with a woman who was stronger than them. Especially male vampires. One of my sisters chose to conceal her strength, to pretend to be less than she was. I could not do that."

Caroline sounded indignant. "And you shouldn't have to. Men suck sometimes."

Becca smiled at that. Caroline had an irrepressible spirit, and she liked the young vampire, even if she was very, very young. She found herself speaking further before she thought about it. "Klaus killed all my friends, before he went after me. He spent decades eliminating them one by one, very carefully, making sure to cover his tracks. I never guessed what was happening until it was too late, and I do not think Elijah did either. Klaus wanted to isolate me and rob me of my will to fight. When he finally came after me, I did not want to survive badly enough – I hurt him, but in the end, he prevailed."

Caroline stared at Becca with wide eyes. "I didn't know. I'm sorry."

Becca's response was interrupted as Damon and Elena returned to the booth. Damon slid in next to her. "A decisive win for the side of evil. Stefan's buying the next round of drinks." He was smiling, but it was an angry smile and his voice was bitter. Becca could see the tension in his strong shoulders, and she suppressed the impulse to touch him and knead that tension from his body. She respected Elena for her strength and determination in the fight against Klaus, but too often she didn't like the way Elena – and Stefan – treated Damon.

Elena's face had clouded at Damon's words. "You're not evil, Damon. You know that's not what I meant."

Damon's voice still held suppressed anger. "Sure I am. Big, bad vampire, remember? In fact, look around you, Elena." He gestured around the table. "All of your friends are vampires."

Elena's eyes flashed with annoyance. "Just forget it, okay Damon?"

"Fine." Damon turned away from Elena and focused his gaze on Becca. She met his ice blue eyes and saw the anger fade from them only to be instantly replaced by concern. She knew that he could read something of the emotion of her conversation with Caroline in her eyes. His gaze flicked quickly to the blond vampire before returning to focus intently on Becca. "Are you okay? What were you girls talking about?"

Becca smiled at him. "I am fine, Damon." She ignored his other question, not wanting to continue the earlier conversation in front of everyone. Or anyone, although she hoped she might share some of it with Damon one day.

Damon held her gaze for a moment longer before seemingly deciding against prying. She knew he was attempting to change the mood. "Where's Stefan with those drinks? We're supposed to be celebrating tonight, remember?"

Becca filed her memories back where they belonged and smiled at him. "Yes, we are." She thought that she was ready to try again at emotions – even love. She just wondered if Damon was. She would wait for him if she had to, though. Damon was worth waiting for; she was certain of it.

•••••

Damon leaned back in their large booth and tuned out the chatter of Elena, Caroline, and Stefan. Instead, he watched Becca as she headed to the bar for more drinks. He knew that he was no longer hyper-aware of all things Elena and that, of late, his eyes and his focus were on Becca more often than not. This, he thought, was a good thing because Elena had made her choice clearer than ever when she had jumped right back in Stefan's arms when they got him back from Klaus. And Damon had had enough. He was moving on.

He knew Becca had been upset about something when he had gotten back to the table earlier, and he felt bad that he had been too caught up in his latest argument with Elena to realize it right away. Becca was usually lighthearted and fun (and Damon liked that about her) so most of their serious moments over the months they had known each other had been in response to some crisis of Damon's. He had wanted to comfort Becca tonight, but he thought that she wasn't so different from him in preferring to keep her emotions private – if not suppress them altogether. And as Elena constantly reminded him, Damon was bad at being a good and caring person even when he made the effort (which he admitted that he didn't always), so he figured that he would just make a mistake if he tried to be there for Becca.

Damon watched as Becca shot down two different men who approached her as she waited at the bar. She was dressed casually in tight jeans and a low-cut red tank top. Her shiny blond hair fell in waves down her back, and she looked absolutely gorgeous. He shook his head slightly. She shot down every man who came up to her, to the point where it no longer happened regularly at the Grill because she had rejected the entire male population of Mystic Falls. Damon wondered if she would shoot him down, too. He knew he was hotter than any of those guys (obviously), and he thought that with Becca he would actually get points for being a vampire. But she was a thousand years old, and Damon was afraid that he couldn't possibly be very interesting to someone like that. Worse, he knew that he was monumentally fucked up, and she had to know that by now as well. She had cared enough to want him to live after the fight with Klaus, but what did that really mean, anyway?

Damon shook away those thoughts as Becca returned with their drinks and turned to him. "What is bowling?"

That question threw him. "Uh, it's a game. A stupid game."

"That man said there is a bowling alley just down the street. Can we go?"

Caroline chimed in. "I'm not going bowling in this outfit. Not a chance."

Damon glanced down at his own designer shirt and jeans. Vampire Barbie made a good point.

But Becca was looking at him with big bright eyes. "Please. I want to see it."

Damon sighed. He wondered why on earth Becca wanted to see a bowling alley, unless she wanted a break from the simmering tension between himself, his brother, and Elena. If so, he could get behind that idea. "Fine, I'll take you. But I'm not actually bowling." He gave a distasteful shudder before turning to the others. "We'll be right back."

He and Becca walked out to the street, and Damon saw that there was indeed a bowling alley just a block away. As they strolled down the sidewalk, he wished that he dared to touch her, to put his arm around her or take her hand, but he chickened out and shoved his hands in his pockets. It was too soon, he thought.

A few minutes later, Damon opened the door to the bowling alley and gestured Becca inside. His senses were assaulted by a cacophony of neon lights, loud and slightly scratchy music, and the smell of cheap beer and greasy food. Becca seemed oblivious as she moved forward, looking around excitedly. Damon reluctantly trailed after her. How did he get himself into this again?

Becca finally stopped just outside the lanes where people were playing. She watched for a minute. "So you roll the ball to knock down those pegs? We played something similar in England in the 1500s, but without all of . . . this." She gestured dubiously at the neon signs, ball return machines, and other trappings of the modern bowling alley.

Damon ignored the history lesson. "Yep, that's the game. See, boring and stupid. So can we go back to our drinking now?"

"Can we try it?"

Damon's eye fell on the bowling shoes of the couple nearest to them. He shuddered. "No, absolutely not. I don't bowl."

Becca looked up at him mischievously. "Come on. They look like they are having fun." She grabbed his arm and added, "No one needs to know."

Her gorgeous brown eyes and her touch on his arm melted Damon's resistance. "Okay." He couldn't believe that he had just agreed.

Damon paid for bowling shoes, reluctantly dismissing the idea of compelling his way out of having to wear them, and listened as Becca asked the kid behind the counter for advice in choosing a ball. He narrowed his eyes as the kid's gaze roamed over Becca's petite figure, all too aware of the direction of the boy's thoughts.

"You'll want one of the lighter balls," the boy told Becca. "Look for one where your fingers fit comfortably, and make sure it isn't too heavy."

Damon snorted. None of the balls were going to be too heavy for either of them. "I'm going to need some alcohol for this," he told Becca.

But the bowling alley only sold cheap beer in plastic cups, and Damon grimaced distastefully as he took two such cups of beer to their lane. He eyed the bowling shoes that Becca had left there for him. Humiliating, absolutely humiliating, he thought and rolled his eyes. He must really be falling for Becca if he had agreed to this.

Becca had returned with a 12-pound swirly blue ball, and Damon quickly put on the shoes. At least he found a 16-pound black ball that fit his hand, although he had to steal it away from a guy who outweighed him by about sixty pounds. A quick twist of the man's wrist did the trick, and Damon was smiling slightly as he returned to their lane. Becca toyed with his ball as he put it down at their lane. "Mine is too light, but I could not find a heavier one that fit. The holes were all too big and far apart."

"That's because you have tiny hands." He dared to grab her hand and hold it up against his own to demonstrate. Her palm was warm against his, and he felt a current of electricity run through him as they touched.

Becca's eyes met his for a long moment before she drew her hand back (a bit reluctantly, he hoped) and launched into one of the few complaints he ever heard her make. "People today are too big. I was not particularly short when I was alive."

Damon could certainly relate to that. "Preaching to the choir," he muttered. Then he stepped closer to her, keeping his voice a low whisper. "But we're faster, stronger, and sexier."

Becca laughed and reached for a beer. "You make a good point." She made a face after the first swallow. "That is gross. Is there even any alcohol in it?"

"Probably not. This was your idea, remember?"

Becca rolled her eyes at him. "Stop whining. You go first. You have done this before."

Damon rolled his eyes right back. He wasn't really _whining_ per se. "Once." That had been a date gone horribly wrong back in the eighties, he remembered with a mental shudder. Bowling hadn't been his idea then, either. He picked up his ball and tried to surreptitiously watch a man three lanes down who clearly knew what he was doing. After a minute of observation, Damon stood a few steps from the lane and held his ball up. He tried to mimic what he had seen and took a couple of steps forward, releasing the ball down the lane. He and Becca both watched as it made it almost to the pins before falling into the gutter. Damon groaned, and Becca laughed. "At least I get another try."

Becca looked at him suspiciously. "Why do you get another try? You are making up these rules."

"Nope." Damon shook his head and pointed at the scoring machine. "Each turn is two tries to knock down all the pins."

"As long as I get two tries, too."

"You do." Damon watched his unwitting teacher again as he waited for his ball to come back. He hadn't gotten the spin right, he realized, as he watched the other man's ball fly down the lane with a curve to it. Damon used his wrist to spin the ball on his second try, and this time his ball took out eight pins. That was much better.

Becca brushed past him as she came forward to get her ball, and Damon caught his breath. Her eyes danced as she looked at him. "I would ask you to show me, but I do not think you know what you are doing."

He gave a low laugh. "You're right. I don't." He couldn't believe that he was actually wishing he knew how to bowl so that he could teach her.

•••••

An hour later, Elena looked around the bowling alley. When Damon and Becca hadn't come back after a few minutes, she had worried until Stefan had pointed out that Becca was an Original and Damon was, well, Damon so it was virtually impossible that anything had happened to them. Knowing those two, Stefan had said with a shake of his head, they had probably just gotten distracted. And sure enough, she spotted them at a lane in front of the door.

Caroline giggled beside her. "Damon Salvatore is wearing bowling shoes. I'd take a picture, except he'd kill me."

Elena giggled too because Caroline was exactly right. She watched as Becca picked up a ball and sent it down the lane for a perfect strike. The vampire turned around and practically jumped up and down with excitement, exchanging a high five with Damon. Elena saw that Damon was smiling, his expression relaxed and warmer than she had ever seen. He raised an eyebrow and shook his head at something Becca said. He looked happy, she thought and felt a twinge in her heart. She had so rarely seen Damon happy.

By silent consensus, they stayed by the door and watched as Damon took his turn, also bowling a strike. Elena shook her head. Trust a couple of vampires to pick up any physical game in under an hour. Becca had never even heard of bowling until tonight, and Elena was absolutely certain that Damon had never spent much time in a bowling alley. She became aware that she, Caroline, and Stefan were not the only people in the room watching Damon and Becca. The two vampires were both strikingly beautiful people, and there was something about the way they were laughing together that drew the eye. Ironically, Elena thought, in that moment they seemed more alive than most of the people around them. They also both seemed oblivious to their audience, and Elena knew that it was totally unlike Damon not to be aware that he was being watched, especially by her. She felt a stab of jealousy and tried to ignore it. She had made her choice.

"We should go get them." Stefan sounded a bit reluctant.

Elena couldn't stop her voice from coming out a bit wistful. "They look like they're having fun." She suddenly found herself wishing that she had come to the bowling alley with Damon and Becca. Even with Klaus gone, fun still seemed to be in short supply in her life.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: **_I'm changing the rating on this story to M just to be safe. Damon refuses to keep his language clean (he only does that for the CW), and there will be plenty of sexual situations in future chapters. This story won't contain any full-fledged smut, however, since I just don't think it would fit with the tone of the story. As always thanks to everyone for reading and especially if you take the time to review!  
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**Chapter 3**

A few days later, Damon and Becca and Ric had claimed the pool table at the Grill. Ric wasn't bad for a human and Becca wasn't bad for a beginning vampire (which made her much better than Ric), but Damon usually won most of the games. This time, however, Becca had beaten him soundly. He watched the sway of her hips as she headed to the bar to get more drinks, on his tab of course. Her long, wavy blond hair flowed over her shoulders. She was wearing tight jeans that hugged her curves perfectly, and her top dipped low enough in back that he could see a good expanse of her smooth skin. His own jeans were feeling a little tight as his eyes followed her.

Ric was looking at him knowingly. "I think I see why you just got your ass kicked. Are you finally going to stop being an idiot and make a move with her?" At least he kept his voice low enough that Damon hoped he was the only one that heard.

Damon shrugged, putting on his best unconcerned look. "Yeah, this weekend. If she's interested."

Now Ric's look was disbelieving. "Are you actually nervous?"

Damon shrugged again, nervously. She was a thousand years old, drop dead gorgeous, and could kill him without breaking a sweat. Of course, he was nervous. "Of course not." He hesitated. "She turns down every guy who approaches her, though."

"That's because she's into _you_, Damon." Ric somehow managed to look simultaneously exasperated and sympathetic. "What's taken you so long anyway? Patience isn't exactly your forte."

"I didn't want to screw it up, for once. Wanted to make sure I was ready to do it right." He didn't say "I wanted to be over Elena," but he knew Ric knew what he meant. Damon was done with the colossal mindfuck that was his unrequited love for Petrova doppelgangers. He just hoped that he hadn't missed out on any chance he might have had with Becca. He reminded himself that Becca had seemed interested when she had entered his mind and convinced him not to give up on his undead life. He had been able to sense some of her thoughts then (it was his head, after all), and he only hoped she might still want to be more than friends.

"That's actually smart. Who are you and what have you done with Damon Salvatore?" Now Ric was looking a bit incredulous, and Damon knew he should probably be insulted.

"Shut up."

"Seriously. Damon's much better at pool than you are."

He was saved by Becca returning with their drinks. Except saved might not be the right word. "What the hell is that?" Damon pointed at the massive third drink sitting next to two glasses of bourbon. It actually had a pink umbrella in it.

"That is your drink." Becca smiled sweetly. "You said I could pick if I won."

"I have to drink _that_?"

"Yep."

Damon tried it and grimaced. It was as bad as he expected, and Becca had clearly compelled the bartender. "How much alcohol did you have him put in that?"

"Too strong for you?" She was laughing at him.

"Fuck, no." Obviously he was going to have to drink it.

Damon tried to finish the horrid drink quickly, watching as Becca made short work of Alaric at pool. She turned to him. "So are you ready to lose again?"

He picked up his cue. "Bring it on." Too bad his head was spinning from the alcohol and the way she had smiled and tossed her hair. He was in big trouble.

•••••

Becca tilted her head and looked at him appraisingly. "Can I drive?"

Damon thought that was probably a good idea actually. He was having a tough time walking straight. "Did you get me drunk just so you could drive my car?"

"That, and beat you at pool." She held out her hand, and he tossed her his keys. Luckily, his aim wasn't too bad.

"Was it worth it?"

"Hell, yeah."

As Damon settled in the passenger seat, he tried to remember what he had planned to ask her on the way home. It took him a second, but he had it, and maybe it was a good thing that he was drunk for this conversation. It had been a very long time since he felt these butterflies in his stomach. "What are you doing this weekend?"

"Hanging out with you, probably."

"Want to go to a music festival in D.C.?"

"Sure. I have never been to a music festival. What is it like?"

"There are lots of bands and alcohol. It's fun."

"Is Ric coming, too? Or Caroline?"

"Nope. Just you and me." He grinned at her.

She smiled back. "I'm in, as you say."

He kept his voice as casual as he could. "Good. It's a date, then." He put his head back against the seat, hoping she didn't notice the smile on his face.

When they pulled up to the boarding house, Damon maneuvered himself out of the car with some difficulty and staggered toward the door. That walking straight thing was still giving him trouble, and now that he was upright again, the world was spinning a little. Unfortunately, when he and Becca got inside, Stefan and Elena were not only still awake but seated in the parlor, apparently in the middle of a serious conversation. And even more unfortunately, Damon stumbled over one of the rugs in the hall. At least Becca caught him before he actually fell, but Elena and his brother had been watching.

"Damon, are you drunk?" Elena's big brown eyes combined judgy and amused in an interesting way.

He held up two fingers as a measure. "Little bit. It's her fault." He pointed at Becca, which was awkward since she was still helping to hold him up.

Now Elena just looked amused as her eyes flicked to Becca. "Did you drink him under the table again?"

Damon felt a bit offended at that. Just because he had been stupid enough to challenge Becca to a straight-up drinking contest once didn't mean he would make the same mistake again. How was he supposed to have known that a little thing like her could out-drink him, Original or no?

"No, I just beat him at pool." Becca sounded amused, too.

That wasn't exactly the whole story. "And forced me to drink these _awful_ concoctions." It was important to clarify that.

Stefan entered the conversation, looking annoyed. "Whatever. Can you at least make it up the stairs?" That was clearly a dismissal, but Damon didn't really care at the moment. He was not in the mood, or condition, to trade barbs with his brother.

"I will help him." Becca kept her hands on him as they moved toward the stairs, and Damon leaned on her more than was strictly necessary. He could have made it up the stairs just fine by himself – he did have some experience with being drunk, after all, and there were no treacherous rugs on the stairs – but he didn't exactly have the willpower to move away from her touch just then. It had actually been a while since he had had sex (what with the months of craziness chasing Klaus and trying to be on his best behavior since then), and his body was on fire just at her proximity.

Becca silently helped Damon to his room, and he sat down on his bed. He felt a bit cold as her hands left his body and she stepped away. He tried to hide it by staring at his shoes, debating whether it was worth taking them off. Becca must have seen the object of his focus, because she bent down and quickly removed the shoes. She looked up at him and met his eyes. "I am sorry I got you drunk."

"What?" She was kneeling right in front of him, almost between his legs. He was more than a little distracted.

Now she was smiling. "I said I am sorry I got you drunk."

He smiled back. "Oh, it's okay. Happens all the time. It's practically my natural state."

He started to undo the buttons on his shirt, but suddenly she stood up and she was right there in front of him. Becca's face was only slightly higher than his with him sitting on the bed. His gaze flickered between her sparkling brown eyes and her full pink lips as she looked at him. God, he wanted to kiss her right then, but some small part of his brain was still rational enough to remind him that it was a bad idea. She wasn't some sorority girl or random pick-up at a bar; she was a thousand year-old vampire. No, when he kissed her, he needed to do it right, and that rational voice in his head was telling him that now was not the time. He would mess it up, and he had waited this long just to make sure that he didn't mess it up for once.

Even as Damon was fighting conflicting impulses of brain and body, Becca looked away from his face and quickly undid the buttons on his shirt for him. She took a step back. "Get some sleep, Damon." Her voice was gentle.

Damon reluctantly watched her leave the room before collapsing back onto the bed in frustration. He would be on his game this weekend at the music festival, he thought as he drifted off to sleep, and she would be the one who didn't know what hit her.

•••••

Becca closed Damon's door behind her and stifled a sigh. As an Original, she very rarely slept, and she was quickly working her way through the Salvatores' extensive library. She headed for her own room, wondering if any of the books waiting there could distract her from thoughts of Damon Salvatore. She had desperately wanted to kiss him, and she was almost certain that he had wanted it, too. Almost being the key word. Damon was an inveterate flirt, but so far they had kept things between them strictly on the level of friendship, and it would be completely unfair of her to change that when Damon was too drunk to be entirely in his right mind.

And Becca was afraid, afraid that Elena still held too much of his heart, even if the human girl didn't want it. Afraid that if she gave Damon the rest of her – and Becca knew he already had much of her heart and soul, having claimed it without either of them really being aware of what was happening – that he was too broken to give her what she needed. The problem wasn't that Damon was damaged, that he had baggage – Becca had centuries of baggage herself, after all – but rather that a major part of Damon's baggage resided just down the hall. Becca would not be a replacement for Elena Gilbert. She wanted Damon only if he chose her because of who _she _was. He had come back with her, chosen to continue living because _she_ had gone after him and asked; that was something. And he shared much of himself with her, his time and his laughter and his knowledge and his mind. She and Damon had fun together, and Becca didn't doubt that they were good together. But Damon was a master at hiding behind sarcasm and innuendo and alcohol. She still didn't know if his heart was free and intact, and she couldn't casually give her body to him because she knew there would be nothing casual about it.

She was going crazy with the waiting, though. Perhaps the music festival this weekend would finally answer the question of whether Damon had any interest in her beyond friendship, whether he had moved on from Elena. In the meantime, she had several hours to fill before he woke up.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: **_Unfortunately, I do not own _The Vampire Diaries_ or any of the characters. Since this Rebecca is not the same character as the Rebekah on the show, I do own her. And the plot, such that it is._**  
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**Chapter 4**

"_It's a date." _Becca had been thinking about those words ever since they had come out of Damon's mouth, but she hadn't been sure if Damon meant what she hoped he had meant. Especially since he had been pretty wasted – her fault, mostly. But Damon had been subtly different since they had arrived at the music festival. He was still her friend who teased her and cracked jokes, but he had been touching her all day, much more than ever before, his hand resting on her arm, his fingers brushing her thigh as they sat together on a blanket. Now his hand had settled at the small of her back as they waited in line for beer.

Damon bent down close to her, and she could feel his nearness in every inch of her body. His hand slid around her body to rest on her hip. "Normally I don't stand in line, but it's not so bad with the right company." His voice was huskier than usual.

She teased him to hide her reaction to his touches. "Are you learning patience?"

"Me? Never."

"I think I have seen definite signs of patience." She caught his free hand in one of hers and began rubbing circles on his palm. She heard his breath hitch, and she spoke softly. "Maybe you should be less patient."

He laughed, the sound she loved so much. "You have to be the first person to _ever_ tell me that." Then they were at the front of the line, and they collected two beers to drink while watching the main act.

Becca didn't know much about modern-day music – it was nothing like the music she had heard in previous centuries – but she thought the band was good. The room pulsed and vibrated with energy, and she felt the sound washing through her. The band was well into their set when Damon slipped his arms around her from behind and pulled her to his body. His lips ghosted along her ear, and the delicate touch sent a shiver through her. Even at that closeness, she wasn't sure she would have heard him if she wasn't a vampire. "Is this good?"

"Very good." She loved the feeling of being surrounded by his arms, his scent. She gave herself over to the sensation and the music. She was a creature of blood, not of magic, but this was a kind of magic.

When the band stopped playing, she turned in Damon's arms. She saw a flash of doubt in his blue eyes, and she brought her arms up around his neck. She met his beautiful eyes and saw the doubt swamped by a range of other emotions, too many for her to even identify. But she forgot everything as he leaned down and brushed his lips against hers. His lips were warm and soft, and his tongue teased along her lower lip before he pulled away. His lips hovered just out of reach, and Becca pushed closer to him, knowing what she wanted. Damon obliged her, closing the gap between them and reclaiming her mouth. His was open this time, and she let him slip his tongue into her mouth. She felt the kiss through every inch of her body, and she melted against him as his hands brushed up her back. She tangled her own fingers in his hair as his mouth did things to her that she hadn't felt in a very long time.

Finally, Damon pulled away slightly, and Becca gave a little moan of disappointment and instinctively tugged him back to her. She realized suddenly that she had forgotten her own strength and stopped, remembering past assignations with male vampires who had not wanted to be reminded that she was the stronger, but Damon just grinned at her. "Not letting me go?" His voice was teasing, and his lips pressed back against hers to give her what she wanted.

"Nope," she said when he finally let her breathe again after a kiss that went on far longer than a human could have managed. Her whole body burned for him, and they had done nothing but kiss.

"Want to get out of here?" The low, husky words went straight between her legs, and she pouted at the thought of the long drive back to Mystic Falls before she could have what she wanted. He must have seen her frustration in her eyes because he smirked with triumph. "I booked us a room at a bed and breakfast just a few blocks away."

"When?"

His grin was huge and his blue eyes danced with light. "When I bought the tickets to the music festival."

An answering grin spread over her face. "Someone was confident," she teased.

He shrugged, his smile shifting slightly to what Caroline had once referred to as his fuck-me smile. "I know I'm good." She suddenly knew exactly what the younger vampire had meant.

"Then what are you waiting for?"

By the time they made it to their room at the bed and breakfast, the door hadn't even closed behind them before they were tearing each other's clothes off, desperate to join their bodies.

•••••

Becca watched Damon as he slept beside her, sprawled in loose-limbed exhaustion. When he was awake, Damon seldom stopped moving, filled with an almost frenetic energy. She had rarely seen him still, only late at night staring into the fire when it all caught up with him during the long months they had sought Klaus and Stefan and then when he had lain near death after the battle with Klaus. This was different, everything was different now, and she could feel his relaxation, contentment, peace as sleep claimed his body and mind.

He was beautiful, she thought, and she wanted to know everything about him. She stroked his face with a feather-light touch, and Damon sighed softly in his sleep. They had explored every inch of each other's bodies, and his was perfect in every way. And he exactly knew how to use that body to bring her pleasure. No one had ever taken her to such heights or kept her there so long, and Becca smiled as she remembered screaming his name many, many times that night. Thanks to being dead, she hadn't had sex in hundreds of years, but she didn't remember it being that good. But she suspected that it was Damon who was that good – or Damon and her together. She felt a strange feeling, a hope that perhaps she had found something, someone truly special and perfect for her.

Her body hummed as she remembered the third, or perhaps it had been the fourth, time they had come together last night. She had again forgotten her strength and pinned him beneath her, and Damon had not only not complained but responded, eyes, smile, and sinful body daring her to have her way with him. In fact, it had been that time that he had bared his throat and invited her to bite him. His blood had been exquisite, and she had given him hers in return, reveling in the feeling of his fangs slicing into her neck and laughing at his surprise as her blood sent him on an unexpected high (and yes, she probably should have warned him about that). The sharing of blood had further electrified the passion between them as each began to feel what the other felt, and it had driven them to continue touching each other, neither willing to give up the spiraling pleasure. Even now she could still feel him as he slept and she wondered at that – that was the sign of a blood bond, and such a bond formed only after sharing blood many times. It was impossible that they had formed a blood bond in one night, and yet somehow it seemed that they had.

His willingness to be vulnerable had blindsided her. Damon had always been so guarded, and she had seen how he concealed his fractured heart behind a façade of cocky confidence. She related to it, as she had been scared to risk feeling or caring for a very long time. But he had trusted her tonight. He trusted her now as he slept far more deeply than was usual for a vampire, as if his deepest instincts told him he was safe here and his guard could finally come down for a few hours, and she felt a desire to protect him and keep him safe, to ensure that trust was not misplaced. He had already become her best friend months ago, and now she thought that perhaps what she felt for Damon Salvatore was an emotion that she had not truly felt for a very long time – love.

She wanted to stroke her hand down his back and feel his muscles ripple under her touch, to run her fingers through his silky hair, but she stopped herself. There was a point at which even a vampire needed to rest, and they had surpassed that point that night. So she simply watched him and smiled at the peace and happiness that sang along the bond that they had created between them.

•••••

Damon woke up gradually, his body blissfully relaxed. For a moment, he was afraid it had all been a very, very good dream and he would find himself in his own bed, alone or with some compelled human – probably alone, since he had given up hooking up with random women months ago. But as he stretched and opened his eyes, he felt Becca press herself against him in a way that instantly awakened his body. He purred with pleasure. It had been real. It had actually been real.

He felt her lips trail along his shoulder and up his neck. Her voice was soft in his ear. "Good morning."

"Morning." His own voice was husky with the remnants of sleep, but he was waking up quickly. Before she could answer him with more than a caress, he had flipped their positions to hover over her. "You know, we haven't had morning sex yet." He bent to kiss her and felt her body arch up against his as their lips met. Damon was looking forward to his best morning in a very long time.

They skipped breakfast, naturally, but the bread and breakfast did have a check-out time so eventually Damon and Becca were forced to shower, which proved distracting, and get dressed. He thought they would at least make it downstairs before the proprietor came to throw them out, and he didn't care about a late check-out charge.

"Are we going to the second day of the music festival?" Becca was pulling on her shirt as she spoke, and Damon suppressed a feeling of disappointment. Clothes were highly overrated.

"Yeah, that's my plan. Unless you don't want to?"

"No, I want to. You were right that it is fun. And I like that it is just us." She looked at him. "We should go hunting first."

"You're hungry?" Damon was hungry, but he could wait until they got back to Mystic Falls that evening.

"No, but you are."

He shrugged. "I'm fine." In truth, he was getting used to his boring blood bag diet, even if it made him a tame vampire. That seemed to be what everyone wanted of him, after all, and he was tired of being a disappointment. He could just imagine how Elena would look at him if he went back to feeding on humans. He might be over his foolish love for her – might have found someone better, someone whom he hoped could actually love _him_ – but he wasn't sure he was ready to give up on the way he had tried to change for her, the expectations she had of him.

Becca's brown eyes were boring into his, and he was afraid that she could somehow read his mind. "Damon, you are not going to stay in Mystic Falls forever, are you?"

"Of course not." Where was she going with this?

Her voice was eminently reasonable. "So when you show me the world, we are going to have to feed, yes?"

She had a point. Blood bags were really only an option when one was settled in a place with a refrigerator, and stealing from hospitals had its disadvantages – starting with the taste of the blood, of course. But he still hesitated. Elena would be disappointed in him, but he was a vampire after all and he had to eat. And he had never really wanted to give up his vampire nature – or if at times he had wanted to, he had always known that he couldn't. He would never be Stefan. And he didn't want to be. Especially not now, not with Becca.

Becca seemed to sense his uncertainty, and she continued. "We will not kill anyone, of course. I have fought side-by-side with you, Damon, and I know how good your control is."

Not always, Damon thought, remembering Jessica and Jeremy and other times where he had lost control and killed people he hadn't meant to kill. But none of those had been about bloodlust, really. "Okay, why not? Let's hunt."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Damon turned to the second of the two joggers settled on the bench in front of him. He captured her eyes. "You never saw either of us. You felt light-headed while jogging so you needed to sit down for a while. You will keep your neck covered until it heals, and if anyone sees it, you will tell them you were bitten by a strange insect while running."

"I never saw you. I was bitten by an insect."

"Good girl." Damon stood up, and he and Becca headed back down the trail at a leisurely stroll. "That was fun," he told her with a smile. He had missed hunting humans, in truth. They had scared the two girls just enough to make it almost a true hunt, although neither of their victims would remember their harrowing morning. He stopped Becca with a hand. "Hold on a sec." Damon bent down and licked a trace of blood from the other vampire's mouth, taking the opportunity to steal a kiss. He suddenly very much wanted her again. "You know, there's plenty of privacy in these woods."

Becca shook her head, although she kissed him again lightly. "The music festival has already started. What happened to your patience?"

"You told me not to be patient, remember?"

She smiled at him teasingly. "Yes, that might have been a mistake. You still have the saying, patience is a virtue?"

Damon shrugged. "Complete bull shit, if you ask me." But he let her lead him down the trail. Another pair of joggers passed them, and he watched Becca stare after them.

"You said they do that to 'stay in shape'? It does not look as if they are having fun."

Damon had tried to explain the phenomenon of jogging to her, but he didn't really understand it himself. "Yeah, it really took off back in the 1970s. At least the outfits are better now. If neon spandex ever comes back into style, I will personally go to Oregon and start killing Nike designers." He paused. "Or maybe that was aerobics?"

Becca gave him a strange look. "I have no idea what you just said, but I think you are weird."

He grinned at her. "Not as weird as you are." They walked in companionable silence for a few minutes before Damon spoke again. "Did you mean what you said this morning about traveling the world?"

"Oh yes. There is so much to see. There might even be stranger things than joggers. And we have eternity, after all."

Damon laughed. "Oh, there are definitely stranger things than joggers. And I'll take you anywhere you want to go." He loved her curiosity and the way her dark eyes sparkled as she took everything in and the way the breeze stirred her hair. And he loved that she wanted to be with him.

•••••

That afternoon at the music festival Becca let herself be transported away by the music and the feel of Damon's hands on her, his arms around her, his lips against hers. She could kiss him whenever she wanted to now, and she took full advantage. Of course, by late afternoon, they had worked each other to a fever pitch, and they compelled their way into one of the musicians' trailers, unable to resist their desire any longer. Damon pressed her immediately against a wall, and she wrapped her legs around him as they claimed each other again. Becca buried her fangs in his neck to stop herself from screaming his name too loudly, and Damon followed her lead. The blood flowing between them as their bodies were joined brought an unbelievable ecstasy as they both climaxed, and a moment later they were sliding to the floor as Damon's legs gave out.

"Fuck, sorry," he gasped as he tried to catch his breath, and Becca couldn't even tease him because she didn't think she could stand either. His lips were swollen from their kisses, his hair was wild from her fingers, and his eyes were slightly glazed with pleasure – he was stunning and he was hers. She shifted slightly and licked the rivulets of blood away from the already-healed wound on his neck, laughing at his moan of pleasure.

"If anyone comes, you be the rock star," she told him as she pulled away slightly. "Can you sing?"

Damon's low laugh rang out. "I try not to, but I can really dance."

"With your looks, that is good enough."

Now he looked at her mischievously. "Are you insinuating that I'm part of some no-talent boy band in this fantasy of yours?"

"Maybe."

"Well, you're my groupie, so what does that say about you?"

Becca giggled at that because Damon had explained groupies to her the previous day. His blue eyes searched hers for a moment, a little smile playing on his features, and she could feel his wonder and love through the bond between them. She started to ask him why he felt wonder, of all emotions, but then he kissed her again, and she had other things to think about.

•••••

Elena hesitated a moment before knocking on Damon's door. She hadn't seen him, or Becca for that matter, last night when they got back from the music festival, and she hadn't found him downstairs that morning, which meant he was almost certainly still in his room. She was a bit jealous about the music festival actually. She couldn't remember the last time she had gotten away from Mystic Falls for a reason that wasn't related to Klaus, and she had tried to hint to Damon that he should get tickets for her and Stefan to come to D.C. for the music festival too. But for some reason, Damon had played dumb and taken only Becca. So she wanted to hear all about it, and more importantly she wanted to talk to him while Stefan was out hunting. It was still pretty early, but Damon was a surprisingly early riser for a vampire with a drinking problem, and it wasn't like he would have any qualms about just walking into her bedroom if the situation was reversed. So finally she knocked quietly on his door and pushed it open.

Despite her best rationalizations, she had clearly woken Damon up. Elena would have felt guilty if she hadn't been so busy noticing that he was obviously naked, although at least the sheet was covering most of the lower half of his body. She tore her eyes away from his lean, muscled torso – shit, she had forgotten just how impressive his abs were – only to encounter heavy-lidded blue eyes, model-perfect features, and wildly tousled black hair. _Damn, Damon is sexy_, Elena thought before she could stop herself. She usually tried not to think about him like that, for obvious reasons.

"What is it, Elena?" There was a hint of annoyance in his voice as he blinked away sleep.

Then Elena noticed that he wasn't alone in bed. Damon's body was between her and the woman, so she couldn't tell who it was, but anger quickly displaced lust and guilt at that lust. She welcomed the simpler emotion. She had thought that he had moved past all that, but with Damon it always seemed to be one step forward, two steps back. She glared at him. "When did you start feeding from humans again?"

•••••

Damon blinked at Elena in confusion. How the fuck did she know what he had done in D.C.? And why the hell was she waking him up to yell at him about it? He started to say something, but Becca chose that moment to bail him out. She sat up in bed, holding the sheet to her chest because she was far more modest than Damon (really who wasn't?), and looked at Elena entirely too brightly. "Good morning, Elena."

Elena's eyes grew absolutely huge, jumping back and forth between him and Becca. "Oh," was all she said, and Damon would have laughed except Elena probably would have staked him for it. Did she really not see this coming? He was pretty sure everyone else had. Elena finally closed her mouth and stumbled through some words. "I, uh, wanted to talk to you about Stefan. Before school." She backed away toward the door.

Damon sighed. "I'll be down in a few minutes." He lay back on the bed and looked at Becca, unable to stop himself from smiling at the sight of her naked in his bed. "That's not really the way I wanted to wake up this morning."

Becca was smiling back at him, and she kissed him lightly. "It is okay."

He pulled her back to him and deepened the kiss. Finally, he released her lips. "I need a shower. Care to join me?" Elena could wait, he decided.

•••••

Elena was looking more than a little annoyed when Damon finally sauntered into the kitchen. She was picking at a half-eaten plate of breakfast in front of her. "What took you so long?"

Damon shrugged and took a grape off Elena's plate, popping it into his mouth. "Sex." Elena choked on her orange juice and looked shocked, probably at his bluntness (didn't she know him at all?). He smiled and continued talking as she coughed. "You know when two people like each other. . . . I know you've heard of it since I've heard you and my brother fumbling around for more than a year now. Although Stefan probably doesn't do it right. . . "

"Shut up, Damon." And Damon decided he probably should shut up since, come to think of it, he wasn't sure he had heard any sex coming from Stefan's room since they had brought him back. After a moment Elena changed the subject, sort of. "So when did you and Becca . . ."

"This weekend." Damon poured himself a cup of coffee and debated whether to add bourbon.

"So that's why you wanted to go to the music festival alone."

Damon snorted. "Congratulations, you've cracked my code. Do you want a medal?"

Elena was giving him one of her concerned looks. "Are you sure you can trust her?"

Damon decided that he was definitely going to want that bourbon. "Oh, that's rich, coming from little miss 'we can trust Elijah.'" He knew that wasn't fair since Elijah had ultimately proven perfectly trustworthy in their second fight against Klaus, but damn it, so had Becca. Was it possible that Elena Gilbert was feeling a bit of jealousy? No, he decided, that was not possible. Not over him.

"Damon." Said in her best superior, admonishing tone of voice.

He mimicked her. "Elena." He sipped his coffee. Maybe it needed a little more bourbon. His weekend with Becca had been so relaxing, and now he was right back on edge. "Yes, I'm sure I can trust her." Damon sat down across from Elena and stole another grape. "I know you didn't wake me up to talk about my relationship with Becca."

Elena looked like she wanted to say more about it, but after a moment she just sighed. "No, it's Stefan. He just doesn't seem the same since he got back."

"Well of course he's not the same. He was with Klaus for months, Elena. That's going to tarnish even St. Stefan's halo."

Elena gave him a look that was halfway between a glare and a pout. "I don't know why I even tried to talk to you about this."

Damon rubbed the bridge of his nose. Somehow she still got to him every time. Elena was a master of the guilt trip. He had never figured out if she did it on purpose. "I'm sorry, Elena. It's just I don't know what we can do. I'm sure he just needs some time."

Now she looked hopeful. "Could you at least talk to him?"

Damon hesitated. "I'm not sure that's such a good idea. Stefan and I have never been very good at, well, talking." He scrunched up his nose. "Someone else would be better. Maybe Vampire Barbie? They're friends."

"Caroline? Really?" Her voice dripped with skepticism.

Damon frowned. Caroline had potential as an interrogator; she was really quite good at getting information out of people. But she was probably more likely to find out Stefan's favorite eighties song (something by Bon Jovi, undoubtedly) or his take on the latest celebrity gossip than what was wrong with him. Assuming something was wrong with him. "No, you're right. I guess I can try." It still seemed like a bad idea. It would be worse than this conversation.

Elena smiled at him. "Thank you, Damon." She got up from the table, but she turned back before she made it out of the kitchen. "And I like Becca, I do. Just, be careful."

Damon decided not to dignify that with an answer.

As he sat there drinking his coffee and finishing Elena's grapes, he idly wondered how soon Becca could be persuaded to leave on that trip around the world. But who was he kidding, really? Damon knew he wouldn't leave Mystic Falls until he was sure Stefan and Elena were okay. As much as he hated to admit it, he loved his brother and he still owed Stefan for the cure to the werewolf bite – all the more so since his undead life seemed worth living again. And he might not be in love with Elena anymore, but she had lost her entire family (in all its weird permutations) and Damon would always care about her. The irony of that line of thinking was not lost on him.

•••••

Becca found Damon still sitting at the table in the kitchen. She sniffed. "Is that coffee or bourbon that you're drinking?"

"A little of both."

"Is that your breakfast?

Damon shrugged. "Elena has that effect on me sometimes."

"Do you want some blood?" She took a blood bag from the refrigerator and held up another with a questioning look. After a moment, Damon nodded. Becca got two glasses from the cupboard and began to pour out the blood. "You and Elena have a lot of history." She tamped down a feeling of jealousy. She had seen the lust (and guilt) in Elena's eyes at the sight of Damon in bed that morning, but she reminded herself that Damon had not chased after Elena. He had stayed with her, and they had taken their time in the shower, to say the least. One thing Becca did know was that she had no intention of giving Damon up; Elena had missed her chance, and the human girl could not have him now.

"Yeah." Damon sounded subdued. "She thinks there's something wrong with Stefan, and she wants me to talk to him."

"I did not know Stefan before he was with Klaus. Is she right?" Becca put the two glasses of blood in the microwave and hit the buttons. They had such strange machines in the twenty-first century.

"She might be. But I don't think I'm the best person to talk to him."

"Why not? He is your brother, and you understand what it means to be a vampire in this world. You have been together for a long time."

Damon's laugh was a short, bitter bark. "I wouldn't say we've been together. I made it my undead life's mission to make Stefan's life hell. I'm pretty sure he doesn't want to talk to me."

"He did sacrifice himself to save your life."

Damon ran his fingers through his hair. "Yeah, and I'm still not sure why he bothered." He fell silent as the microwave beeped, and Becca handed him one of the glasses of blood. Their fingers brushed lightly, and Damon looked at her with a wistful smile. "I'm glad he did because I met you, but I was pretty much worthless for a very long time. I can't exactly offer anyone any advice."

The shift in Damon's emotions from the previous day and earlier that morning worried Becca, and she felt a surge of anger at Elena for spoiling his mood. She wanted her sexy, confident Damon back. "You could never be worthless." She bent and kissed him. There was a core of self-doubt and pain buried deep in Damon that Becca had every intention of eradicating. "Talk to your brother. You obviously love each other."

Damon still looked doubtful, but he nodded.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: **_It's time for Elijah to make a real appearance in this story. I've never written him before, but I think it went okay. As always, thanks for reading and reviews are much appreciated!_

**Disclaimer: **_I do not own _The Vampire Diaries_ or any of the characters. I do own Rebecca, since she is not the same as the character on the show ;)_**  
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**Chapter 6**

Damon didn't see Stefan that day, and he wasn't exactly enthusiastic enough about the idea of that conversation to hunt his brother down. And that afternoon Becca got a call from Elijah that he would be in town the next day and needed to talk to everyone, and Damon put aside his promise to talk to Stefan to speculate and make plans for the Original's visit. He vetoed the idea of dinner, not wanting to remind anyone about the last dinner party that he had held for Elijah (and Elena and Ric would be the only humans in attendance anyway, so what would be the point of food?), but the occasion provided a good excuse to restock his liquor supply, not that Damon needed much of an excuse for that.

So now Damon and Becca sat together on one couch, Stefan and Elena on another with Ric, Caroline, and Elijah forming the other points of their little circle as they drank and talked. So far Damon could identify nothing of importance that had been said, although he had noted that Elena was drinking uncharacteristically heavily and kept shooting cryptic looks his way.

Finally Elijah filled a silence with a statement of significance. "I have found a witch who is willing to relocate to Mystic Falls." The silence only deepened after those words. Damon guessed he wasn't the only one thinking of Bonnie. He took another long drink of his bourbon and watched Elena do the same with whatever she was drinking now. "With all the mystical activity that has taken place here recently, if you'll pardon the pun, it has become noticeable as something of a supernatural hot spot, and I thought it best for the town to have a resident witch. She is, in fact, a descendant of Emily Bennett."

Damon broke the ensuing silence. "What's her name?" He had attempted to keep track of the Bennett bloodline, after all.

"Amaya Patterson." Damon frowned, trying to remember the intricacies of the Bennett family tree. Human families became complicated in a hundred and fifty years, and he was by no means certain that he knew about all of the branches these days. Elijah looked at him speculatively. "She is a distant cousin of Bonnie's," he clarified.

Elena sniffed and rubbed at her eyes. "She can never replace Bonnie." Her voice was stubborn. And she sounded rather drunk to Damon's ears. "We don't need her."

Ric spoke reasonably. "Elijah has a point."

Elijah nodded at him. "Ric, would you be available to show Amaya around town on Thursday? Perhaps you could help her identify a place to live."

As Ric nodded, Caroline piped up. "Why couldn't she just stay here? It's a boarding house, isn't it?"

Stefan spoke then. "Of course she is welcome to stay here until she finds a place, but there is a reason this place hasn't been a functioning boarding house in decades."

Damon snorted. "Yeah, because I had a habit of eating the guests."

Beside him, Becca giggled as eyes turned to Damon from all over the room. Elena got out the first condemnation. "Damon, you don't mean that."

He couldn't resist. "All you can eat buffet." Then he raised his hands in supplication. "Kidding, mostly. Seriously, Stefan's right. She can stay here in the short term, but she should find her own place." He and Becca needed some privacy after all.

"It _is_ technically my house," Elena said. She just had to bring that up. It had certainly seemed like a good idea at the time.

"You just let me know when you want to start paying the property taxes on this place," Damon countered.

Elijah had been following the conversation with some amusement. "So it is decided that Ric will show Amaya around on Thursday." And Damon wondered at Elijah's choice of points of emphasis, but he didn't say anything.

After that, the conversation turned back to topics of, in Damon's opinion, little importance. Elena kept drinking, but Damon noted with a touch of worry that she remained a safe distance away from Stefan on the couch, in sharp contrast to the way he and Becca had moved closer and closer as the evening wore on. It was after midnight when Stefan declared that Elena had had enough to drink and he was taking her up to bed. Caroline took that as her cue to leave as well, and Ric asked if he could crash upstairs since he too had had a lot to drink. Damon refrained from pointing out that this was why the house was feeling downright crowded lately, especially since Ric was his best friend and actually was welcome to stay any time.

That left Damon, Becca, and Elijah. Becca now sat curled against Damon's side. He had his arm possessively around her, and he noticed that her body fit against his just as perfectly here as they fit together in the bedroom. In truth, he was a bit surprised (but very pleased) that she was willing to make their new relationship so public so soon. He wasn't, after all, the kind of guy that women usually wanted to introduce to their family and friends. And the fact that Elijah already knew him didn't seem likely to help the odds of winning his approval.

And Damon knew he was about to demonstrate exactly why he was generally kept away from respectable company. "So why do I get the impression you're trying to play matchmaker with Ric and the new witch?" he asked Elijah.

Elijah shrugged. "Jenna's death was unfortunate. She was a good woman."

"Well, if you hadn't . . ." Damon was halfway into reviving an old argument about who was at fault for Jenna's death when Becca brought her finger up to his lips to silence him. He obeyed, only because his response had been more reflexive than anything else – he was sick of that argument, too. He did, however, open his mouth and run his tongue teasingly along Becca's finger. Next he slipped his hand up through her hair to caress her neck, and he heard her breathing change and felt her body shiver against his. Damon stifled a grin at that and looked at Becca with eyes that sparkled with false innocence. He shifted their positions slightly and kissed her, mouth open and demanding.

"I believe the saying is 'get a room.'" Elijah's voice was dry, but he looked amused.

"For once, we're in agreement." Damon looked questioningly at Becca and she nodded.

Becca stood up, her hand locked in Damon's. "Good night, Elijah," she said.

Damon had to add his two cents. "Make yourself at home. Everyone else does."

•••••

A few hours later, Becca reluctantly climbed out of bed, leaving behind a sleeping Damon. She pulled on one of his black t-shirts and her own fitted yoga pants (not that she had tried yoga yet, but she wanted to some day – and the clothes were comfortable). Damon's shirt was huge on her, but she liked being surrounded by his scent. With a glance back at Damon, she reluctantly padded to the door and slipped out of the room. She knew Elijah would also be awake, and she had a feeling that he had more to discuss with her.

•••••

Elijah put aside the book he had been reading as he heard Rebecca slip almost silently down the stairs. He knew she was being careful not to wake Damon or Stefan.

In truth, Elijah didn't disapprove of Rebecca's relationship with Damon. He had seen the connection between the two of them almost from the minute Rebecca woke up from death, and he had in fact been a bit surprised that it had taken them this long to acknowledge that they were kindred spirits. He hadn't missed how much time they had spent together during the campaign against Klaus or the way Rebecca had hardly left Damon's bedside when the younger vampire lay in a coma afterwards. Moreover, Elijah had seen Damon bring out a side of his sister that he had not seen for many, many years even before Klaus had killed her. Rebecca had again shown signs of the free-spirited woman who had loved life and sought out new experiences, who had an impish sense of humor and a ready smile. Elijah was very glad to see that sister resurface.

And he considered Damon suitable enough as a companion for Rebecca. Damon might be young, reckless, and impulsive, but he had never evinced any desire for more power or wealth than he already possessed or sought any variety of world domination – and it was the vampires with those sorts of ambitions who worried Elijah. In the time he had known Damon and from what he had learned of the younger vampire's history, Damon's motivation had usually been to aid and protect the people he loved, so while Elijah might often disagree with Damon's methods, he approved of the younger vampire's priorities. And after being dead for so long, his siblings needed any connections that they could form to this new world in which they found themselves. Rebecca was, in fact, the one who worried him the least right now. Which was why he needed her help.

He greeted her with a quiet word and a nod. "Rebecca." After she had sat down, he added. "So, you and Damon are together now?"

•••••

Becca's voice was also quiet as she answered Elijah. "Yes." She hesitated, wondering how much to tell him. "We have formed a blood bond."

Elijah looked up sharply at that. Becca felt a bit gratified that she had managed to surprise her older brother. "Was that wise?" he asked.

She shrugged. "It just happened."

"Rebecca, a blood bond does not just happen."

"He offered me his blood. I reciprocated, and the bond formed from that."

If she hadn't known Elijah, she would have thought that look might be shock. "It takes time to develop a blood bond."

"Not in this case. It was a full bond immediately. I do not understand it either," she admitted. "But I am not complaining. We make each other happy, I think."

Elijah nodded in acknowledgment. "Yes, I think that you do. It is odd to see Damon happy, in fact."

They both fell silent then, and after a few minutes of companionable silence (something you got used to when you were as old as they were), Becca brought up the other subject that had not been discussed while the others were awake. "Do you have news of our siblings?"

Elijah sighed. "I do, but it is not all good."

•••••

Becca slipped quietly back into Damon's room. She was pleased that Elijah seemingly had no objections to her relationship with Damon. She would not give Damon up for anything, but she was happy not to have to fight her brother on the subject. Elijah and Damon had often clashed during their search for Klaus and Stefan, so she had not been sure how her brother would react. With a small smile on her face, she stripped out of her clothes to rejoin Damon in bed and turned around only to find him watching her. Even in the dark, she could see the combination of amusement and desire in his eyes. Becca had often been isolated because of her power as an Original, and she had sometimes been sought out for that power, but she had rarely been wanted as a woman – as everything that she was – the way she knew that Damon wanted her. It was intoxicating. "Did you enjoy the show?" she asked him teasingly. In truth, she would have put on more of a show if she had realized Damon was awake.

"Very much." His beautiful blue eyes stayed locked on her as she settled back into bed, lying facing him. "What did Elijah say?"

"I will tell you in the morning." Right now she wanted to forget the potential problems with her siblings that Elijah had raised. "Go back to sleep."

"What if I'm not tired?"

Becca looked at him. If he wasn't tired, she had a question to ask him. "Damon, have you ever felt anything like this, like the bond between us?"

Damon looked puzzled at her serious tone of voice. "No," he admitted after a moment. He sounded a bit reluctant to Becca.

"You know it is a blood bond? And it happened much . . . faster than most."

Damon had caught her serious mood now. "I guessed as much." But the seriousness only lasted a second before his voice sounded teasing again. "I like it."

She matched his teasing, sexy tone. "Do you?"

Damon brought his hand up and stroked through her hair and down her neck and shoulder. "Mmm hmm. But you know, it hurts my ego that I can't even tire you out."

She snorted. "Your ego is perfectly healthy." But she couldn't resist softening her response. "As it should be. I just do not sleep. But you should. It is late, and all of your guests will be waking up soon."

"What if I would rather do something else other than sleep?" He slid closer to her and kissed her. As his mouth plundered hers and his hands danced across her body, Becca was more than happy to go along with Damon's version of "something else."

Later Becca lay in Damon's arms, her body relaxed in the aftermath of pleasure. Damon had fallen back asleep, and he had instinctively drawn her close to him. She luxuriated in the feeling of his hard muscled body surrounding hers, his breath fluttering her hair as he slept. She envied Damon sleep just then, but she quieted the whirring of her mind by focusing on the peace she could feel through him.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: **_This is another fluffy, fun chapter, but we are moving toward a semblance of a plot (if anyone is wondering). I hope you like it, and reviews are love._**  
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**Chapter 7**

The next morning, Damon and Becca were eating breakfast (or rather mostly drinking breakfast, although Damon had stolen some grapes from the humans again) when Elijah joined them with a nod. He poured himself a cup of coffee.

Becca put her hand on Damon's arm, and his eyebrows arched. Something was up. "Damon, Elijah needs me to go with him to talk to our brother and sister."

"Why?"

"They are having problems integrating into this world. Elijah thinks I can help."

Elijah intervened smoothly. "Rebecca has done by far the best job of becoming acclimated to the twenty-first century."

Becca rubbed Damon's arm lightly. "It is because of Damon, you know," she told Elijah.

Elijah nodded. "Indeed. And you have been alive again longer as well, and you had a purpose when you were awakened."

Damon couldn't believe how lucky he had gotten that it was Becca's coffin that Klaus had placed in the same packing crate as Elijah's so that it had been their two bodies that he and Elena and Bonnie had recovered. He already couldn't imagine his life without Becca in it. But he wasn't about to say that. He went with his usual cockiness instead. "Maybe I'm the one who should talk to your siblings?"

Elijah tilted his head at him. "They are frustrated with the lack of deference in modern American society." His voice was dry.

Damon flinched a little at that. "Or, maybe I'm not the best person to talk to them." He knew perfectly well that he was really, really bad at deference, although it didn't have much to do with the era they lived in. He had been bad at deference as a human, too.

Now Elijah looked amused. "Agreed."

Becca gave Damon a quick kiss. "It should only take a few days. Elijah will be leaving on Friday after the new witch arrives, and I will join him next week."

Damon tilted his head, looking at her hopefully. "Are you staying over the weekend to be my date to the latest decade dance? Because I really don't want to be a chaperone without a date again." He gave her what he thought of as his best adorable pout.

Becca's fingers snuck into his hair, toying with it in a way that made Damon want to drag her right back up to his bedroom. "Yes, I did not forget the dance, although I do not have a dress yet. Caroline hasn't mentioned going shopping . . ."

Damon grinned. "You're supposed to wear something era-appropriate. I think it's intended to be educational, and of course, this being Mystic Falls, they go completely over the top with it. Anyway, the branch of the family that took care of the house for most of the past hundred years seems to have shared Stefan's pack-rat genes, so I'm sure we have some options in the attic." He thought that Becca could even make the seventies look good.

•••••

That night Damon and Becca were meeting Alaric and the witch, Amaya, at the Grill after dinner. If Ric was showing her around Mystic Falls, he had to show her the Grill, after all, and with everything going on, Damon and Becca hadn't been there all week. So they arrived to find Ric and Amaya just finishing their dinner and pulled up chairs to join them. Damon stole a french fry from Ric's plate. He only spared Amaya's pickle because he had just met the woman. He considered that admirable restraint.

And he was even going to try to make small talk. "So what do you think of Mystic Falls so far?" he asked the witch. Amaya Patterson was a stunningly beautiful African-American woman who looked to be in her late twenties, and he found himself thinking that she might be a good match for Ric after all. Maybe Elijah was onto something with his matchmaking.

"It's very small." Damon heard a bit of dismay in the witch's voice.

"But there's never a dull moment." Ric raised his eyebrows at Damon's words, so Damon felt the need to elaborate. "Well, there are some dull moments, but they're punctuated with lots of life-and-death crises."

Now Ric rolled his eyes. "Damon, I think you should shut up now."

Damon thought he was going to be saved from further failed attempts at polite conversation by the arrival of Caroline Forbes. But after a few minutes of Caroline quizzing Amaya, Damon found himself drawn back into conversation with Ric and the witch as Caroline and Becca spoke quietly at the end of the table. He tried his best not to listen in even though he caught his own name a couple of times. It was downright disgusting how civil he was feeling lately, he thought, as he listened to an actually quite amusing story of one of Amaya's magical mishaps as a teenager.

As the story came to an end, Becca tugged on his arm. "We need to take your picture, Damon."

He shook his head. "Nope."

Caroline focused in on him. "Come on, Damon. If you two are dating, she needs to have pictures of you on her phone. Otherwise it's completely unbelievable."

Damon looked at the two female vampires, puzzled. "Who are we trying to convince? I don't do pictures. I'm going to be this sexy forever. It wouldn't be fair to all the other guys who have to compete." In truth, he avoided pictures because they could too easily come back to haunt him years or decades down the road.

Becca looked at him pleadingly. "Just a couple?"

He never could resist those eyes. "Fine." But Damon felt more in the spirit as Becca snuggled up against him in the booth, and he wrapped his arms around her. He knew his smile was a real one.

Caroline squealed after the very first picture. "That's it! You two are so photogenic." Becca slid away from Damon slightly to look at the small screen of the phone, and he suddenly decided he wouldn't mind more pictures after all.

Becca's voice was filled with excitement. "It's so quick and easy, and it looks real." She turned to Damon. "Do you want to see?" He remembered that she had no experience with photography, let alone smart phones, until recently. He supposed that this was one of the elements of modern life that he was supposed to be teaching her about, and he loved the way her eyes and face lit up with enthusiasm at every new thing she discovered.

Amaya had apparently noticed Becca's excitement, too. "You've never had your picture taken before?" Damon wondered if Ric or Elijah had filled the witch in on Becca's relatively recent resurrection. He hoped someone had, or she must be really confused right now.

Becca shook her head. "No. I have had my portrait painted by smitten young artists before, but this is much better. Sitting for a portrait is so dull, and it takes forever." Damon felt unaccountably jealous of the artists that she had mentioned. He reminded himself that they were long dead. He guessed that Becca had sensed his little spurt of jealousy because she turned her attention back to him and smiled broadly. "Look at us."

She slipped back over next to Damon, her leg pressing against his, and he smiled at the image on the screen. He was far more interested in the stunning woman in his arms than in his own image (he wasn't actually as narcissistic as he pretended to be). He whispered his reaction in her ear. "You're beautiful." Becca squeezed his knee and smiled in a way that he knew was only for him.

Of course, Caroline interrupted the moment. "Do you want a copy, Damon? Becca can send it to you."

Becca turned to Caroline, more excitement in her voice. "I can do that?"

Damon, meanwhile, was contemplating the offer. He didn't collect photographs or mementos or anything from his long life. There hadn't been much that he wanted to remember, after all. But he suddenly thought that he would make an exception in this case. For her. "Yeah, send it to me." His voice was just a tiny bit husky, and he hoped that no one noticed.

Becca turned and gave him a searching look followed by a quick kiss, and he guessed she sensed something of his emotions through the bond between them. Then she slid back over to sit closer to Caroline so they could both see the small screen. "Show me how."

Damon was a bit lost in thought for the next few minutes, until Caroline abruptly stood up. "Sorry I have to go. Elena wants to talk tonight." The blond vampire smiled at all of them apologetically. "It was really nice to talk to you, Amaya."

The witch smiled back. "Likewise, Caroline."

Ric turned to Amaya after Caroline had left. "Now that we're down to four, do you play pool?"

She looked a bit apprehensive. "I haven't since college, but I'll give it a shot."

Ric smiled reassuringly at her. "No pressure. We just need to keep Damon distracted so he doesn't open his mouth too much. Now let's see if we can beat these two."

Damon snorted as they headed for the table. "Not a chance."

Sure enough, Damon and Becca made short work of Ric and Amaya for the first two games. Then they switched up the teams, and Damon and Amaya won the next two as Damon sank one difficult shot after another. After Damon coolly buried the eight ball to close out the second game, Ric winced at the prospect of buying his fourth round of drinks, and Becca moved to stand by Amaya. "Time for – what do you call it? – girls against boys." She gave Damon a challenging look.

He laughed. "You're on. You girls are going down."

Amaya looked at Becca doubtfully. "He's really good."

Becca smiled at the taller woman and spoke in a conspiratorial whisper. "Do not worry. I have a plan, and we are going to win."

They racked the balls as Ric came back with beers for himself and Amaya and glasses of bourbon for the two vampires. Damon watched as Becca broke, sinking two stripes, but he was more interested in his stunning vampire girlfriend than the game. He would never admit it to anyone, but he kind of loved how powerful she was. Damon didn't exactly have a problem with people messing with him – he was pretty bad ass himself – but he loved that if any werewolves wanted to torture him or any witches wanted to give him aneurysms, Becca would kill them for it. And he just plain had a thing for strong women, after all (one of the few things he could thank Katherine for).

As Damon shifted a couple of steps to admire Becca's ass as she leaned over the table for a shot, he wondered idly what her plan to beat him was. This seemed like a good night to go undefeated, he decided, and there was no way he and Ric should lose to the two women.

Finally it was Damon's turn – he had let Ric go first for their team since he didn't want to win too quickly – and he sank four balls in quick succession. The next shot was going to be more difficult, however, and Damon studied it carefully from all angles while trying not to look like he was doing so.

As Damon lined up his shot, Becca winked at Amaya before sauntering over to stand beside Damon. "How about a kiss for good luck?"

Damon grinned. "You know I won't turn that down." He stood up, and Becca stretched up to pull his head down to hers. She pressed her body into his, and her mouth claimed his for a long, deep kiss. She was doing something new, different, and completely distracting with her tongue, and she had slipped her hand between them to touch him in a way that was even more distracting. Damon forgot entirely about the pool game as he focused on the woman in his arms and the way his body was going haywire at her touch.

•••••

Ric finally turned away from the two vampires to smile ruefully at Amaya. That was the kind of kiss that shouldn't be allowed in public, and he found himself a bit uncomfortably aroused at the sight. Even his human ears picked up a low moan of desire from Damon as Becca kept them pressed together for far too long. Finally, gasping breaths told Ric that it was safe to turn his eyes back to his friends, and he saw that Damon's eyes were glassy, his pupils blown. Ric couldn't exactly blame his friend, but he knew right then that Damon was going to miss his next shot. He watched Damon's eyes follow Becca as she moved away to the other side of the table, hips swaying seductively. Damon finally shook his head a little and bent over again to take his shot. Becca chose that moment to lean over from across the table, and Ric watched Damon's eyes flicker up to the cleavage that his girlfriend had just exposed and he winced silently. Sure enough, Damon's shot missed badly.

Becca's turn was next, and Ric shook his head at her smile of victory as she slapped Damon lightly on the ass, drawing a glare from the other vampire. Sure enough, Becca sank her team's remaining three stripes and the black eight ball for the win. She and Amaya shared a high-five.

Ric almost had to smile as he turned to Damon. "Well, you missed, so you can buy this round of drinks."

"Shit." Damon grabbed Becca's arm. "You're coming with me." He had a mock predatory look that Becca answered with a faux-innocent look of her own.

Ric turned to the beautiful witch next to him as the two vampires headed for the bar. "So have you ever hung out with vampires before?"

She shook her head. "They seem so human." Ric was happy to see that she looked more amused than scandalized. Damon and Becca could be a lot to handle. Hell, Damon alone could be a lot to handle.

"Yeah, most of the time. Until they don't." He continued ruefully. "For some reason, they're my friends, though."

Amaya smiled. "I can see why. They _are _pretty fun, if a bit . . . crazy."

Ric laughed softly at that, and Amaya gave him a look that clearly said "what?" Ric tried to explain. "I was thinking that Damon would probably be happy with that characterization." Amaya laughed too at that, and Ric thought that this witch just might make it in Mystic Falls.

Just then, Damon and Becca reappeared, without any drinks. "Uh, Damon . . ." Ric started, then he noticed that now it was Becca who looked dazed and Damon who had a look of triumph.

"We're gonna go." Damon's blue eyes flashed with mischief. "Ric, can you give Amaya a ride back to the boarding house?"

Ric shook his head in amusement yet again. "Sure."

Damon nodded at the witch. "It's been a pleasure. The door will be unlocked."

Amaya smiled at them both. "Thanks for the games."

•••••

Damon's shirt was half off as Becca pushed him through the door of the boarding house, and he was focused on how he could get hers off without tearing it. She had told him that he wasn't allowed to tear any more of her clothes, and even his promise to buy her new ones had not satisfied her. She said that he was dating the wrong vampire if that's what he wanted because nobody except Caroline liked shopping that much. So he needed to get her shirt off in some civilized fashion, but it seemed awfully complicated just then because she kept distracting him with her lips and her hands.

He paused when he heard someone clear her throat. "Please tell me that you two are going to make it upstairs." Speaking of shopping devils, it was Caroline.

Damon separated himself from Becca ever so slightly. He saw that Elena and Caroline were sitting in the parlor. Elena was wide-eyed and Vampire Barbie looked amused. Damon felt a bit embarrassed that he hadn't sensed them – he was usually a lot more aware of his surroundings than that – but a glance at Becca's blush told him that she hadn't noticed their audience either, and he decided to feel satisfied about capturing her attention that thoroughly. He covered his chagrin with his usual cockiness. "You girls aren't enjoying the show? You could learn something." He decided to pass on the expected foursome joke since his relationship with Becca was still pretty new, and he wasn't sure how she would take it.

Trust Elena to change the subject to something serious. "Were you at the Grill with Ric and the new witch?"

Damon rolled his eyes. Shouldn't it be obvious that he didn't want to talk right now? He was kind of in the middle of something. He kept his answer as short as possible. "Yep."

It didn't work. "What do you think of her?"

"She seems nice, not too judgy. She needs to work on her pool game."

Elena stared at him and he could see an admonishment on the tip of her tongue, but Becca spoke first. "You were the one who lost to her the last game." Dark eyes sparkled with mischief as Damon turned back to the woman at his side. He was ready to forget all about their audience again at the sight of her slightly mussed hair and swollen lips, and as if he wasn't already turned on enough, he could feel her matching desire through the bond between them.

He was pleased that he kept his voice under control. "Because you cheated."

"What rule did I break? And since when do you believe in following the rules?" Becca grinned at him, and Damon smiled back. She had a point. She tilted her head slightly toward the staircase. "Race you upstairs."

His grin widened. "You're on." She was gone before he could even think about saying good night to Elena and Caroline, and Damon had no choice but to flash up the stairs after her. He heard Caroline's laugh following them.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: **_Since this story takes place in Mystic Falls, it's about time for a little action, don't you think? Not to mention some movement on the plot front. . . . Thanks for reading, and as always, reviews are much appreciated. I may not be able to update for a week or so because of friends coming into town__, but I will try to be back as soon as possible with this story (not to mention eventually getting back to my other ones)._

**Disclaimer: **_I do not own _The Vampire Diaries_ or any of the characters. Rebecca is not the same character as the Original on the show (for one thing, she is way less whiny) so I do own her._**  
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**Chapter 8**

Damon walked into the room and smiled at the sight of Becca standing in front of his mirror, holding up a vintage tunic shirt with a doubtful look on her face. He held up the garment bag he was carrying. "I have the perfect dress for you for the Seventies Dance."

Becca looked skeptical and he thought that she could read him way too well. He opened the bag anyway. He pulled out a silver sequined mini-dress. "See?"

Becca looked horrified. "I cannot wear that. It is too short to cover . . . anything." She scrunched up her face at the thought, and Damon wanted to smile at her expression. She looked adorable. He was happy to say that Becca had generally adopted the fitted, revealing clothing styles of the twenty-first century, but he definitely thought she could take it further – her body was stunning, after all. And from time to time, her reactions showed that she had lived through centuries of very different fashions for women.

"Come on. You'll look gorgeous in it."

"I am a chaperone. I cannot wear that dress. Although it is pretty. . . ." Her fingers trailed over the fabric, and Damon hid another smile. He would manage to convince her.

"You're not a chaperone. I am. You're a chaperone's date. And beside no one cares what the chaperones wear to these things. Did I tell you that I wore leather pants to the Sixties Dance? Tight leather pants."

Becca grinned at him. "When do I get to see those?"

"Maybe when you wear this dress."

Becca shook her head. "I do not think it is appropriate." Damon thought she sounded a bit regretful. Or he hoped she did.

He came up to her and slipped his arms around her from behind. He nuzzled her neck, admiring in the mirror the way her eyes closed slightly in pleasure at his touch. "You're going to be the most beautiful woman there either way, so you might as well flaunt it. Come on. Just try it on."

Becca sighed. "Alright, I will try it on. Maybe I will ask Caroline what she thinks."

Damon hid a smile at that. If she asked Caroline's opinion, he was golden. Elena might not approve, but Caroline would have no problem with short and sparkly.

•••••

Damon stood beside Alaric in the crowded school gym, pretending to be a responsible chaperone. Becca had gone to get them drinks, and he really hoped that someone had spiked the punch by now (or at least that Becca would spike their drinks) because the dance was boring him. The only plus side so far was that Becca looked just as gorgeous in the little silver dress as he had known she would. Her legs looked a million miles long with the short skirt, and the dress clung to her curves perfectly. But he had only been able to drag her onto the dance floor for a few songs. For some reason, she wanted to act like a respectable adult, and she didn't think his version of disco dancing qualified – which it certainly didn't, but being appropriate wasn't really part of Damon's style as a chaperone. So far his attempt to convince her that they were merely showing the kids what the seventies had actually been like (he had particularly enjoyed Studio 54) had failed. But the evening wasn't over yet, and at least he could give Ric a hard time. "So why didn't you invite Amaya tonight?"

Ric rolled his eyes. "It's a high school dance, Damon."

"So? It's not like there's anything else to do in Mystic Falls. She's probably sitting alone at the boarding house wishing she was with you . . ."

"I'm pretty sure she's not."

"Come on. I think Elijah might be onto something with you two. And you know it pains me to say that." Damon gave his friend an evil grin.

"Just shut up, okay."

"No one is any fun tonight." Damon sighed and fell silent. A moment later, he glanced over at Ric, wondering if the teacher had any alcohol on him. "This party needs something to liven it up."

Ric gave him a suspicious look. "Don't say that – you'll jinx us. Doesn't Elena have a tradition of getting attacked at these things?"

Damon had to concede that point, but that didn't mean he couldn't use it to continue to harass Ric. "Well, last time it was you who attacked her. Or your body anyway, so at least she's safe on that front tonight. Right?" He smirked at his friend before scanning the dance floor for Elena. "Where is our little trouble-magnet, anyway?"

Ric looked around, too, and he looked worried when he couldn't spot the brunette. "I don't know. She was over there earlier." He pointed to their right.

Damon frowned. He didn't see Elena anywhere, although at least he didn't see Stefan or Caroline on the dance floor either so maybe they were all together. Even though things had been peaceful in Mystic Falls for a few weeks, the three of them had an unspoken agreement to leave Elena alone in public as little as possible. Worrying about that girl was like an instinctive reflex at this point, and he snorted in disgust at himself. He was going to have to break that habit, and soon. Hell, Elena would probably be glad when he stopped worrying about her so much; she was the one who wanted to make decisions and control her own life after all. At the moment, Damon was getting a bad feeling, however. "Will you tell Becca I'll be right back? And hold my drink for me?"

Ric grimaced at him. "Depends on whether it's spiked or not. And I really hope none of my students heard that."

Damon grinned. "You're a role model, Ric." Then he moved off to make sure Elena was okay.

•••••

Caroline straightened her dress and checked her hair before following Elena out of the bathroom. So far the dance was really bumming her out because there were _no_ good prospects at this school at all. She should have found a college boy to be her date or something, even if it took compulsion to make it happen (which it totally wouldn't anyway). Really, she still missed Tyler, and not even a college boy was going to fix that. With a sigh, she stepped out into the hallway only to see Stefan shove Elena behind him as a strange man approached.

Before Caroline could react, the stranger slammed Stefan into the wall, and he buried some sort of weapon that could have been a small stake in Stefan's chest. Elena screamed as Stefan crumpled to the ground, and Caroline raced forward to hold her friend back. The strange man had to be another vampire, and Caroline felt her fangs coming out at the prospect of a fight.

Then suddenly Damon was there, and Damon's attack drove the vampire away from where Stefan was disturbingly still. But to Caroline's horror, a moment later the strange vampire had turned the tables and Damon flew into the wall hard enough to shake the school. The vampire sprang across the room to where Damon had landed, another weapon in his hand. Caroline could only watch in horror, not wanting to leave Elena's side when a vampire could snap her neck in a second. And this other vampire was _fast_ – he drove his weapon into Damon's neck before the black-haired vampire could even react. Damon lay on the floor, unmoving, blood pooling from his neck, as the other vampire got to his feet and turned toward her. The entire fight had lasted only seconds. Elena backed away as Caroline stood resolutely in front of her, although both of them were well aware that Caroline would be no obstacle to a vampire who could throw Damon around like a rag doll.

The vampire paused in front of the two girls, however, and his eyes roamed over Caroline's body, his gaze leering. "Aren't you a pretty one? I'd rather drive a different stake into you, honey."

"Eww. Not in a million years, creepo." Caroline was proud that her voice sounded so steady.

"Feisty. I like that in a baby vampire. I think both of you are coming with me."

Suddenly there was another figure in the room, and Caroline felt a surge of relief. If anyone could take this guy down, it was Becca, and she was going to be _pissed_ about what he had done to Damon.

The Original had taken in the whole scene at one glance. Her voice was firm, and her eyes blazed with fury. "Sorry, no one is coming with you."

The strange vampire turned toward Becca with a bemused look on his face. "_You're _going to stop me? With what army?" Caroline knew that he saw a petite, beautiful blond woman in a vintage silver sequin party dress, and she smiled gleefully at the thought of just how much he was underestimating Becca based on her appearance.

Becca's smile could only be described as a smirk. "Just me." She was across the room too fast for even Caroline to really see the movement, and one blow sent the larger vampire flying. He hit a wall and sank down, shaking his head dazedly and cowering slightly as Becca stood over him. Caroline wondered just how hard Becca had hit him.

The vampire looked at Becca incredulously. "Who are you?"

Becca ignored him. "What do you want with my friends?"

"Look, I just want the doppelganger, okay? I'll let you in on the action."

"What is 'the action'? Tell me, and maybe I will not kill you."

The strange vampire both looked and sounded desperate. He held up a hand, and Caroline noticed for the first time that he was wearing gloves. She suddenly suspected that there had been vervain on the stakes he had used on Stefan and Damon. That would explain why the brothers hadn't gotten up. "I heard that there's an Original building an organization of vampires. I thought that the doppelganger would be the perfect way in."

Becca frowned at that, and Elena gasped. "Who is the Original?" Becca asked.

"I don't know the name, okay?" Then he seemed to finally figure it out. "Wait, are you. . . ?"

Becca interrupted him before he could finish. "I am an Original, yes, but I want nothing to do with followers." She sighed. "Caroline, can you find me a stake please? I would prefer not to get blood on my dress."

The man was begging now. "Please don't kill me. I'll do whatever you want."

Caroline sped to the nearest classroom, effortlessly breaking the lock on the door and snapping the wooden leg off a desk. She was in total agreement that it would be a shame to get blood on that gorgeous dress. She was back in seconds, and Becca caught the stake that Caroline tossed to her without even looking. Her eyes were still trained on the vampire who had attacked them. "Sorry, I do not like you. And you hurt my friends." The man tried to move then, but Becca caught him around the neck with her free hand and slammed him back. A second later she drove the stake into his heart. She stepped back with a look of distaste. "Idiot."

A curse from the other side of the hallway revealed that Damon had regained consciousness and managed to pull the weapon from his neck. Caroline watched as he staggered to his feet and crossed the room to Becca's side. He rubbed at the rapidly healing wound on his neck and his hand came away bloody. His voice was hoarse. "But a strong idiot. That guy was _not_ young."

Becca shook her head. She rested her hand on Damon's arm, and Caroline thought she saw relief in Becca's brown eyes that Damon appeared to be okay. "No, he was quite old." Caroline thought Becca looked concerned, and that scared her a little. She heard a groan come from Stefan, and she watched as Elena finally moved, looking more than a little dazed, and crossed the room to where her boyfriend lay on the floor.

Damon was still talking to Becca, although he choked on the words a little as if it hurt to talk. "Do you think he was telling the truth that one of your siblings is looking for followers?"

Becca sighed again. "Yes, I suspect that he was. And I can probably guess who."

Caroline was puzzled by the whole idea. "Why?"

Becca turned to her. "It is a form of power, to gather other vampires around you. Especially one such as this."

Caroline glared down at the body. "He was a creep. I see what you were saying about male vampires."

Damon looked puzzled at that, but Becca brought her finger to his lips to silence him before he could ask. Her voice was soft. "I will tell you later. Right now, you and Stefan need blood, and we need to get rid of the body."

Damon's eyes flashed briefly, but he nodded. "Yeah, I guess a dead vampire in the school might not go over too well. We can get Ric to help, but . . ." He glanced down at the blood staining his vintage polyester outfit. "Someone not covered with blood is going to have to go get him."

Caroline glanced over to where Elena was trying to help Stefan sit up. "I'll go." She headed back toward the dance at human speed. Maybe it was a good thing that she hadn't brought a date after all. He would probably just have ended up dead.

•••••

Damon lay back on his bed with a frustrated sigh. He had just gotten out of the shower, and he was wearing only a towel. He rubbed absently at his neck where the other vampire had stabbed him. He had consumed a couple of glasses of blood and washed off his own blood so that he looked as good as new, but his neck was still sore. His pride was hurt worse, however. If Becca hadn't decided to stay in town for the dance, at best they would be chasing after a kidnapped Elena. Again. And at worst, that vampire would have finished them all off before leaving with his prize. Damon wasn't sure why the other vampire had just disabled himself and Stefan rather than going for the heart in the first place. He muttered to himself. "How humiliating."

Of course Becca chose that moment to walk in. "Are you talking to yourself?"

Damon forced a grin. "Yep, I've finally lost it completely."

Becca smiled back a bit wistfully as she sat down on the bed next to him. "You are not the only one. Alaric is still absolutely fascinated by those little stakes that vampire had. He says they are carved from some kind of porous wood and were soaked in vervain. I think he wants to keep them, although they will not do us much good unless you want to wear gloves all the time." Her smile faded slightly as she trailed her fingers softly along Damon's bare chest.

Damon couldn't help but sigh into her touch. "Yeah, there was definitely vervain involved." It didn't help his pride any, although Becca's caresses were making him feel better.

Her voice was quiet. "You are okay? I felt it when he hurt you. That was how I got there so fast."

Damon hadn't thought of that particular effect of the blood bond between them, but it made sense. And it might have saved the day, after all. "Yeah, I'm okay." He knew she had been worried for him, and he loved that she cared even as he hated how easily that other vampire had taken him out. He captured her hand and kissed it lightly. There was something that he needed to ask her before they went too much further, though, and he wanted to change the topic of conversation away from his weakness. "So what were you telling Caroline about male vampires? Should I be insulted?"

Becca's brown eyes met his and she smiled again. "You remembered that?" She paused a moment before continuing. "I was explaining to Caroline why I was . . . alone for so long."

She stopped talking then, and Damon waited with what he thought was reasonable patience for her to continue. After a minute or so of silence, his patience ran out, however. He sat up, but he tried to keep his voice nonchalant. "And what did you say to her?"

He thought Becca looked uncharacteristically vulnerable as her brown eyes met his blue ones. Her voice was quiet. "Over the centuries, I met many male vampires who were not comfortable with me being stronger than them."

Damon suddenly understood that look, and he brought his hands up to the sides of her face, keeping their eyes locked together. His gaze burned with intensity even as his thumbs brushed lightly over her skin. "I don't care about that. I love how strong you are." Not to say that he didn't wish that he was strong enough to match her, but she didn't need to know about his insecurities.

Becca sounded a bit doubtful. "You do?"

"Yes, I do." Damon brought his lips to hers to show her just how okay he was with her power. She tangled one hand in his hair even as the other rubbed down his back, and her touch ignited a fire in him. His smile was very much a real one when they finally broke apart. "It's definitely time to get you out of that dress."

Damon was so caught up in Becca that he didn't notice when the door to his bedroom was pushed open slightly and then closed silently a moment later.

•••••

Elena backed away from the door and took a shaky breath. The image of Damon's naked, muscled back and damp black hair seemed to be burned onto her retina, but of course, Becca's hands had been all over him. Damon never had any time or attention for her anymore. He didn't care that she had almost been kidnapped again tonight (she ignored that it was Becca who had saved her from that fate) or that Bonnie couldn't just be replaced by some new witch or that tonight might set Stefan back. She told herself that it wasn't that she was jealous of Becca, but she needed her friend right now – and Damon didn't seem to care about that. He had his perfect little vampire relationship, and Elena decided bitterly that he probably had never wanted anything other than sex anyway. She moved away from his door with a huff of anger.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: **_Okay, I'm back, and this is a long one to help make up for the wait. Damon finally talks to Elena (sort of) and Stefan in this chapter, and we meet two other Originals. So I hope you like it! Also, if you want to picture Becca played by a different actress than the one playing Rebekah on the show (who I mostly like, but I hate the way they are writing her as a whiny brat), I think Helena Mattsson would make a good Becca - she is gorgeous enough to pair with Ian perfectly ;) Please review if you like this chapter/story (or even if you don't) since reviews help inspire me to keep writing._

**Disclaimer: **_I do not own _The Vampire Diaries_ or any of the characters. My Rebecca is not the same as the character on the show, so I do own her and the plot._**  
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**Chapter 9**

The next morning Becca slipped back into bed with Damon around sunrise. Normally Damon was an early riser and she wouldn't have to wait long for him to wake up, but today he showed no signs of stirring. Becca sighed at the evidence of how hard his body had worked to heal itself the previous day. She had been terrified when she had felt Damon attacked, had felt him lose consciousness. She had gone to _his_ rescue, not even thinking about the others, but of course it had been about Elena. And Damon had risked his life without a second thought to protect the girl. She felt a surge of annoyance at that, but Becca thought, Damon wouldn't be who he was without that total lack of concern for his own safety, and it was very interesting to observe the way this little group of vampires and humans fought for and protected each other. She had almost forgotten about that kind of caring, of friendship or kinship, over the centuries, and she had missed it. She had missed having friends who cared. Klaus had taken that from her, and she thought that she wanted it back.

Becca reached up and gently stroked a piece of unruly black hair back from Damon's face. Yesterday had been a reminder of how easily she could lose him when they were only just discovering what they could be together. He was young, and that worried her because there were so many other vampires with more power than Damon. But she also knew that he was strong for his age, and she would make sure that nothing happened to him. What mattered now was that he was okay. She lay still, watching him sleep and admiring his beauty.

Becca wasn't sure how much time had passed when she began to hear the sounds of the other residents of the house stirring – Stefan and Elena murmuring to each other in bed over who got the first shower, the witch Amaya heading down the stairs to the kitchen – and finally Damon opened his eyes. She smiled. "Good morning, sleepyhead."

Damon smiled softly in return. His voice was rough with sleep. "Morning." Then, "Where did you learn that?"

Becca scrunched up her forehead. "I do not know. Maybe I read it somewhere?"

"Did you get into Stefan's stash of children's books?"

She matched his teasing tone, knowing that the affectionate needling was a sign of Damon's love for his brother. "Yes, that is it. And they are scary."

"Explains a lot, doesn't it?"

She laughed and kissed his hand where it rested just inches from her.

Damon sighed and stroked her cheek before interlacing his fingers with hers. "Are you still leaving to talk to your siblings today?"

Becca nodded. "Yes. Magdalena and Alexander are in Chicago, and Elijah is there with them right now."

"Do you think that vampire was referring to one of them?" He stretched, and Becca admired the play of perfectly defined muscles in his lean torso. Damon was made to be a vampire, she thought. He would have been wasted on a single human lifetime.

She kept those thoughts to herself, answering him quietly. "I think Magdalena. I do not think Alex would do such a thing. He was always a kind soul, for a vampire." She smiled ruefully. "Far kinder than me, I am afraid."

Damon gave her his endearingly crooked smile. "I think _you_ are a beautiful soul." He shifted to lean over her, and Becca rolled slightly onto her back. Before she could answer him, Damon had begun to kiss his way down her neck to her shoulder and then to her breast, teasing the nipple with his lips as his hand sought out her other breast. She sighed in pleasure. "Beautiful," he repeated. "How long until you have to leave for your flight?"

"We have some time."

"Good." Becca felt her body igniting with desire as Damon resumed his gentle ministrations.

•••••

Damon was winding the grandfather clock early that afternoon when Elena found him. Becca had left for Chicago, and Damon was trying to distract himself from missing her by taking care of the house. He figured that was a healthier way to cope than alcohol.

Elena's big brown eyes blazed as she glared at him. "You don't even care, do you? Did you flip your precious switch again and turn your emotions off?"

Thoroughly confused, Damon climbed down off the small ladder that he had been standing on. "What are you talking about?"

"All you care about is having sex with your new vampire girlfriend. Bonnie's dead, and we're just supposed to replace her with another witch. And Jeremy and Jenna are gone, and Stefan's not himself. There's nobody left, and you don't even care." She was raging at him, her big brown eyes flashing with anger, and Damon had no idea how to defend himself. Or what she wanted from him.

He tried to stay calm. "Of course I care, but I can't exactly bring people back to life, Elena."

"So you just move on like they never even existed? Like their deaths don't matter?"

"What else am I supposed to do?" Damon refrained from mentioning that most of those people wouldn't have exactly mourned _his_ death, after all. "Elena, people die. I'm a vampire. It's not like I haven't seen death before. I've seen more than 170 years of death."

Elena cut him off. "I thought we meant something to you, Damon."

Damon stared at her. Where was this coming from? He was starting to feel his own anger rising. "What do you want from me, Elena?"

"I don't know – maybe a sign that all of this has affected you, at least a little."

Damon found himself still staring in confusion. Did she just want him to be miserable with her? His very ability to fall for Becca, to feel any kind of positive emotion again, had come from these months in Mystic Falls. It had come from his relationship with Elena, in particular, and her ability to draw out what was left of the humanity that he had thought he had cast aside forever. But he didn't think that answer would satisfy her right now.

Elena wasn't happy with his silence. "Fine, don't answer me." She turned away from him and took a step toward the door before turning back. "Have you even talked to Stefan yet?"

"No." Damon suddenly wished that he hadn't been such a coward and that he had a different answer to that question. But Damon would rather face down a pack of werewolves on a full moon than talk about emotions and feelings and relationships. He guessed that was probably a personality flaw in Elena's book. "I will talk to him, Elena."

Her voice was scathing. "Don't let it interfere with your busy schedule." She stalked from the room.

Damon sat down heavily on the couch. What the hell was that all about? He needed a drink.

•••••

It was Stefan who found Damon for the dreaded conversation later that day. Damon was in the library with a book and a drink when his brother found him. He was still in a bad mood from Elena yelling at him earlier and Becca being gone.

"Damon, Elena is worried about you and Becca. Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Stefan's voice was thoroughly serious and Damon could see the lines deepening on his brother's forehead.

"So Elena sent you to talk to me?" What was going on in that girl's head?

Stefan had the grace to look a bit abashed. "Yeah. I'm worried about you, too."

"There's nothing to worry about."

"Damon, Becca is an Original. She's unbelievably strong and . . ."

Damon felt his indignation rise on Becca's behalf. "She saved Elena _yesterday_, Stefan, and she probably saved us as well. What more do you want?"

Stefan looked only slightly chastised. "I know that, but the Originals always have their own agendas. Do you know what Becca's agenda is, because I don't? Not yet."

Damon rolled his eyes. "I'm her 'agenda.' Is it really so hard for you and Elena to believe that somewhat might actually want to be with me?"

Stefan sighed. "Of course I know she likes you, Damon. I just want to make sure you're keeping your head about you through this. She can compel you . . ."

Damon interrupted his brother. "Actually, she can't. I'm still drinking vervain every day." He realized that could be taken the wrong way, so he continued hurriedly. "Although that has nothing to do with Becca, and everything to do with Elijah and the rest of their siblings." Damon didn't like that anyone held power like that over him. He had no intention of ever being compelled, or being vulnerable in that way, if he could avoid it. "Becca and I are happy, Stefan. Is that really so hard to believe?"

"I know it seems that way, Damon, but you've only been together for a few days. Don't you think you're moving awfully quickly? You've always been one to jump in with both feet without even checking for rocks."

Stefan's tone of superiority was getting on Damon's last nerve, and he fought the urge to destroy the civility of the conversation. He failed. "Shouldn't you be glad that I'm no longer after your girlfriend, brother?"

"Don't make this about something it's not."

"Really? How's life in your Elena-scented bubble, Stefan?" Damon knew he should stop before he went any further, but once again he couldn't stop himself. "Shouldn't you two be busy looking at college brochures together? Or traveling to Europe to grow up and find yourselves? Maybe this time, it will take."

"Shut up, Damon." Stefan turned away. His voice was low when he continued. "She doesn't want to turn."

Damon's anger melted away. "You knew that, Stefan. She never has."

"I don't think I really thought about what it meant until the sacrifice, until you forced her to drink your blood." Damon flinched slightly at the reminder of one of his many mistakes, but Stefan kept going like he hadn't even noticed. "And then when I had to choose between you and her when you were dying. I didn't want to think about it. It won't be long before she leaves me."

Damon was silent, unsure what to say. He had accidentally gotten to the crux of at least part of what was bothering his brother. "Stefan . . ." His brother turned back to him, and Damon knew he needed to find some words of wisdom. He owed his brother for saving his life, after all. "You need to take her out, show her something other than how long and hard you can brood." Thinking of Elena's sneak attack on him earlier, he added, "She's wound a bit too tight right now, that's for sure."

"She wants a normal life, Damon."

"Normal doesn't have to be quite as boring as you make it. She wanted me to get you guys tickets to the music festival last weekend, but obviously I had an agenda other than saving your relationship. . . ." Damon knew he was smiling at the memory of his perfect weekend with Becca, but he didn't care. Once she got back from Chicago, he decided he would take her somewhere else. Maybe New York. Or somewhere in the Caribbean. He still hadn't seen her in a bikini.

Stefan's voice drew his mind back to Mystic Falls. "She did?"

"Yeah, Stefan. She did. Take her out. Hell, take her to Europe for real. Show her that there are perks to dating a vampire."

His brother looked stricken. "I can't just go out and have fun after the months I spent with Klaus, the things I did. . ."

Damon rolled his eyes. Apparently Elena and Stefan were on the same page about the virtue of dwelling on the past, at least. "So you massacred some towns, killed a bunch of people? Welcome back to life as a vampire, Stef. It happens. You deal with it and move on."

"People are _dead_ because of me, Damon."

"Yeah, I know. But brooding and blowing things with Elena won't bring them back."

Stefan smiled slightly. "I can't believe I'm even considering taking advice from you on my love life."

Damon couldn't help but smile back. "Yeah, hell might be freezing over as we speak."

But Stefan's smile disappeared almost immediately and his green eyes took on a haunted expression. "And I can't show her all the perks of dating a vampire. I don't have the control, especially not right now. Even traveling is probably a bad idea."

Damon hesitated, not sure what to say to that. He knew that Stefan had gone back to his animal blood diet, and in truth he had never entirely understood his brother's struggle to gain control of his addiction to human blood. Damon had cultivated his own control over his early decades as a vampire, but he had never suffered anything like the problems that plagued Stefan. He might be a bad person, but he was the same person no matter what (or who) he had for dinner.

When Damon didn't say anything further, Stefan moved toward the door. "Be happy with Becca, Damon. Just watch yourself. Don't let this turn into another situation like Katherine."

Damon cursed, all sympathy for his brother forgotten. How dare he mention Becca and Katherine in the same sentence? He knew from the blood bond that Becca was in this just as deep as he was. He broke out in a smile as he thought of that particular perk of dating another vampire. Stefan was staring at him like he was insane, so he figured he had better give his brother some kind of an explanation. "Becca and I formed a blood bond, Stefan."

Stefan looked surprised. "You did? I thought those took time to develop."

Damon smirked. "I guess ours is special."

Stefan shook his head. "Just be careful, okay?" He turned and left the room.

•••••

Becca looked around the large house in the Chicago suburbs that her siblings Magdalena and Alexander were currently inhabiting. It was nothing like the Salvatore boarding house or any of the smaller homes she had seen in Mystic Falls, but she still had very little experience with the architecture of the era in which she now lived. She spoke politely. "This is a nice place."

Magdalena shrugged affectedly. "It is barely adequate." Her sister had always been a great beauty, and she wore an elegant gold dress that went perfectly with her long, straight blond hair. Becca suddenly felt self-conscious about her own wavy hair that always had a bit of a mind of its own, not to mention her casual jeans and flowy silk tank top. Her clothes were nice – she had bought them at Caroline's favorite, and rather expensive, boutique in Richmond – and she was particularly fond of the bright pattern on the top (which she was determined not to let Damon shred in a fit of passion), but her sister had always made her feel inelegant and underdressed, and apparently that hadn't changed.

Alexander glanced at their sister with annoyance. "The house is fine." He turned to Becca. "I confess that I miss the palaces and courts of Europe in our day. This age seems so dull and lifeless. But we forget our manners. Would you like something to drink? Some blood perhaps?"

Becca smiled. "Sure. Thank you."

Her smile faded as she heard Alexander call for a servant, and a minute later, a human entered the room with a tray of glasses of blood. She was certain the man was compelled, and while she had never objected to such a thing before, she had come to find the absence of servants in Mystic Falls rather refreshing. As Becca sipped from her glass, she was surprised to realize that it was fresh. She had gotten used to the blood bags at the Salvatore house, she thought as she hid her reaction. Clearly, her siblings were living very differently than she was.

Becca was not sure how she was supposed to go about helping her siblings integrate into the twenty-first century, and she was even less sure how to go about confirming her suspicion that it was Magdalena who was recruiting vampire followers. She would far rather return to Damon and the relative peace and simple pleasures of the past few weeks in Mystic Falls, since they had defeated Klaus. Becca had never cared for family politics or power politics – often one and the same with her family – but she had absented herself from those power struggles once before and the result had been Klaus' rampage, not to mention her own death for three hundred years. She didn't think she could afford to make the same mistake again.

She hadn't told Elijah yet about the attack, finding it hard to completely trust the phone as a means of communication. She knew Damon would laugh at her for that and call her old-fashioned. And she would tell him that when you were as old as she was, you were allowed to be old-fashioned. And his blue eyes would sparkle in that beautiful way . . .

Magdalena's disapproving voice interrupted her daydream about Damon. "Rebecca, are you even listening?"

Becca immediately felt like a child being chastised. "Sorry." She wondered how her older sister could still make her feel that way after so many hundreds of years. Family patterns were hard to break.

Magdalena did not look mollified. "If we are boring you, Rebecca, perhaps you would like to talk about yourself. Elijah tells us that you are keeping company with a vampire."

Becca tamped down her annoyance at being treated like a small child. She would not let her sister get to her. "Yes, his name is Damon Salvatore. He helped us to pursue Klaus." She could hear her voice become more enthusiastic at the topic of Damon. Then she had a moment of inspiration. "Would you like to see his picture?" She pulled out her phone.

"You have his picture on your talking device?"

"My phone, yes. They can do all kinds of things." Becca pulled up the picture that Caroline had taken of her and Damon. She passed the phone to Magdalena, who peered at it skeptically before passing it to Alexander.

Alexander sounded excited. "He is gorgeous. Does he please you in bed?"

Becca guessed that she was probably blushing. Trust Alex to ask that question. "Yes, he does. Very much."

Alexander looked wistful. "I don't suppose you would share him?"

While Becca was imagining Damon's reaction to that idea, Magdalena explained. "Alexander is not happy with the men in Chicago."

Alexander rolled his eyes. "The humans are so fragile and so very limited in their experiences. And the vampires are not much better, and for some reason very few of them are interested in men. I have thought about turning a human, but I have not found one that is worth dealing with the new vampire phase."

Becca smiled a little at her brother. Alex had always been a bit picky, not unlike her. "Sorry, I will not share Damon."

Alexander looked wistful. "That is too bad."

Magdalena, on the other hand, looked thoughtful. "So he is your _ïh__santhá_?"

Becca frowned at the ancient word. It implied ownership of a lover, almost like a pet, and there had indeed been a time when she and her siblings had chosen younger vampires as their _ïh__santhá_. The formal practice had gone out of fashion hundreds of years before her death, and she thought even long before Magdalena's. Once again, she found herself wondering what Damon would think. She couldn't decide whether he would be amused or insulted at the idea – it probably depended on whether he took it seriously. But claiming Damon as her _ïh__santhá_ would clearly establish him as hers and hers alone, and she thought that she had to choose her battles. "I suppose you could say that, although it is his choice, too."

"Why would you give him a choice?"

Becca shrugged. "Because it is his life." After a moment, she added, "And I do not wish to control him." If there was anything that would drive Damon away, it would be an attempt to control him, and anyway she loved his stubbornly, recklessly independent nature.

Alexander looked puzzled at that. "I do not understand that about the twenty-first century. Why do all the humans expect to be free and independent? Why do they not want to defer to their betters? The vampires are hardly better, although at least they understand power."

Magdalena interjected. "Some of the humans understand power. And wealth."

Becca frowned. She strongly suspected that it was Magdalena who was trying to gather vampire followers. It fit her sister's style, and this conversation was hardly disabusing her of that notion.

•••••

Damon poured himself another drink of bourbon and eyed his phone. He missed Becca so much, especially after a day of emotional drama with Elena and Stefan. Always his favorite way to spend a day, he thought with biting sarcasm. After another moment of hesitation, Damon picked up his phone and found Becca in his contacts. He touched the phone to dial her number, and a smile spread across his face a moment later as he heard her voice. _"Hi, Damon."_

"Hi yourself. How's Chicago?"

"_It is . . . strange. Very different from Mystic Falls."_

"Well, of course. Chicago is a beautiful city and this town is a dump. Wait a minute, why do I live here again?"

Becca giggled. _"That is not what I mean. My siblings do not understand the people of this century."_

"Hell, half the time I don't either."

He heard worry alongside the amusement in Becca's voice. _"Not like you."_ A moment later she changed the subject rather than elaborate. _"How was your day?"_

Damon shrugged even though she couldn't see him. "Elena yelled at me. And I finally talked to Stefan."

"_Why did Elena yell at you?"_

"I have no idea. I don't understand _her_."

Becca sounded amused again_. "No, I suppose you would not. And it is probably better that way."_

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"_Never mind. How did your talk with Stefan go?"_

Damon decided to let Becca change the subject. He certainly didn't want to talk about Elena. "It went surprisingly okay. Well, there was some fighting, but we didn't try to stake each other or anything."

"_Do you normally try to stake each other when you try to talk?"_

Damon thought back on his many fights with Stefan. "It's happened a few times."

"_It sounds like my family."_

"Yeah, what is it about vampire families anyway?"

Becca giggled again, and Damon smiled at the sound. God, he missed her. This time he changed the subject. "So what are you wearing?"

He heard puzzlement in Becca's voice. _"The same thing that I was wearing when I left this morning. What does that matter?"_

Damon smiled. "It's time to teach you about a little thing called phone sex."


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Caroline was becoming more and more worried about Elena's reaction to the relationship between Damon and Becca. As nearly as she could tell, Damon was completely (and typically) oblivious to what was really going on, but she suspected that both Becca and Stefan were well aware of the cause of Elena's spiral into crazy. Caroline guessed that Becca would intervene only if she thought that she might actually lose Damon to Elena, and Stefan was long used to some form of sharing Elena with his brother so he was likely to tolerate the situation. But that didn't mean it was a good situation, so Caroline thought it was time for a visit from the honesty police.

She and Elena were having lunch when she raised the issue with characteristic bluntness. "Are you jealous of Becca, Elena?"

Elena looked shocked, but her tone was less than convincing. "No, of course not."

"Really?"

Now Elena sounded stubborn. "I'm not jealous."

Caroline ignored her friend's denials. "Yes, you totally are. I thought you didn't feel that way about Damon?"

Elena sighed and gave in. "I guess maybe I kind of liked the idea that if things didn't work out with Stefan, maybe they would work out with Damon."

Caroline shook her head. "You can't expect Damon to wait around for you, keep him as a back-up plan. That's not fair to him. Or to Stefan. Especially after what Katherine did to both of them."

Elena looked a bit guilty at that. "I know. I guess I just miss Damon, being the center of his attention. As much as I hated it sometimes – or most of the time." She gave a rueful smile. "And I guess . . . I never thought he would move on so quickly. I mean, he waited for Katherine for 145 years, and he gets over me in a few weeks?"

Caroline snorted. "There was nothing healthy about Damon's obsession with Katherine, and you would be the first one to admit that if you were thinking clearly right now. Look, Elena, a little jealousy is normal, but you can't let it rule your actions." Secretly, she thought that maybe it was about time that Elena Gilbert experienced jealousy since it seemed like Elena had always had whatever guy she wanted fall right into her lap. But Caroline was going to keep quiet about that theory. She was trying to learn tact, after all.

Elena sighed again. "I know. And I feel bad about the way I yelled at him yesterday, I do, but . . ."

Caroline cut her friend off. "It would never work anyway, you and Damon. I mean if the two of you got together, _you'd_ be angsting about Stefan and _he'd_ be angsting about Stefan – and both of you would be miserable. Damon's doing the right thing by moving on, and you need to let him, Elena."

"I guess my head knows all of that, but my heart isn't so sure what it wants any more."

Caroline ignored that and pressed on with her next argument. "Plus Damon is, well, insane, and Becca can handle him. She might be the only one who really can." Caroline had already seen Becca stop Damon from engaging in an argument with a kiss or a finger to his lips, and Caroline suspected that maybe the simple fact of having someone love him unequivocally would stabilize Damon. Elena's feelings for Damon had never been unequivocal – in fact, they had always been the exact opposite, and Elena had always demanded that Damon change as a condition of her affections, even her friendship. Damon, in turn, had sometimes accepted that and sometimes fought it, which had made for a rather unstable dynamic of crazy, unpredictable vampire in their midst. Caroline hoped that Becca might make Damon a little less volatile, and at a minimum, it was kind of reassuring that Damon at his worst would not be able to hurt Becca. She knew she would have worried about Elena, or any human, in a relationship with Damon. Hell, she had been there, sort of, and it wasn't pretty.

Elena's delicate features took on a worried look. "I guess so, but are you sure Becca's right for him? What if this is a relationship that even Damon can't handle?"

Caroline sipped her coffee. It was a bit hard to worry about Damon, of all people. "It's hard to ever be sure about that sort of thing, isn't it? But they sure seem happy together, and I don't think Becca would hurt him. And don't you think even Damon deserves to be happy, after everything?" Caroline also liked Becca. The Original sometimes felt like an older sister to her, a cool vampire older sister with whom Caroline could go shopping on Damon's credit card. Caroline had largely given up the pretext that she was teaching Becca anything about life in the twenty-first century on these shopping trips. She had concluded that Damon wasn't going to object as long as she made sure that Becca bought sufficiently hot outfits, and that was easy enough to do. Caroline knew she could just compel her way to anything that she wanted in stores, but she felt less guilty when she had a credit card to hand over, even if it didn't have her name on it. One of these days she was going to have to ask Damon just how he had gotten so wealthy. There had to be a vampire trick to it that she could learn.

Elena cleared her throat. "Caroline?"

"Sorry." She tried to make up for her lapse of attention. "How are things with you and Stefan, anyway? That must be part of the problem . . ."

Elena sighed. "He just seems really distant lately. And he doesn't even seem to want to touch me anymore. I don't know if he's scared that he'll lose control or if things are really just over between us and we're just hanging on out of habit. You know?" Her voice got quiet. "And I don't even have anywhere to go if we break up."

Caroline suddenly felt nothing but sympathy for her friend. "Oh, sweetie. You know you can always come live with me if you have to. It would probably take my mom a few months to even notice. Ric would take care of you, too. You know that."

Elena laughed shakily. "Your mom would notice. Your house isn't that big."

Caroline grinned. "I don't know. She still works all the time. And besides, we'll be going away to college soon, and we can go to the same school and be roommates so that I can keep blood in the fridge."

Elena's smile at that was a little steadier, and Caroline felt a sense of relief. She hoped she had gotten through to her friend.

•••••

Damon was sitting in the library reading when Elena found him. He ignored her as she entered the room, but she approached him anyway. Her voice was tentative. "Uh, Damon? Can we talk?"

Damon finally looked up, curious despite himself. "It depends. Are you going to yell at me for no apparent reason again? Because . . ."

Elena cut him off. "I'm sorry about yesterday morning, Damon. I shouldn't have said those things to you."

Damon nodded, slightly surprised. Elena didn't usually apologize to him. Of course, usually he was the one who owed her an apology, not the other way around. "Apology accepted." He hesitated a moment before continuing. "What was that all about, Elena?"

Elena's voice was small. "I guess I've kind of missed you lately."

"I've been right here."

Elena shook her head like he was missing the point. "I mean, you've been so busy with Becca that I kind of felt like I lost my friend. And I've lost so many people, Damon."

Damon felt like one of those cartoon characters with the light bulb above his head. Suddenly it was all starting to make sense. Elena was jealous of his relationship with Becca. Except that was completely unfair, after everything. "You don't get to do that, Elena."

Now it was her turn to look puzzled. "Do what?"

"Try to make me feel guilty for finding someone to be happy with. You chose Stefan – over and over again."

"I'm not trying to make you feel guilty, Damon. I'm just trying to explain how I feel."

Damon's voice changed to an exaggerated falsetto that was meant to be an imitation of Elena. "'I've lost my friend.'" He returned to his normal voice. "Please, Elena. That was exactly what you were trying to do, whether you know it or not." As she stared at him, looking hurt, he barreled on. "Are we even friends, Elena?"

The hurt look got worse, and Damon felt a surge of guilt. "Of course, we're friends."

He refused to back down just yet. "Really? Because most of the time, I don't get the impression that you even like me. Unless you want something from me – or if I'm dying." Becca, on the other hand, showed him that she liked him and enjoyed his company every day. And she didn't want him to change.

Elena looked at him with utter sincerity, her brown eyes huge. "Of course, I like you, Damon. I just know that you can be a better person, that's all."

Damon rolled his eyes. He had known that something like that was coming. "That implies that there's something wrong with the person that I am now, Elena."

Elena raised an eyebrow. "You do kind of have a tendency to randomly kill people."

Damon sighed. "My kills aren't random, Elena. Just because you can't see the higher purpose, doesn't mean there isn't one."

Elena scoffed at him. "Really, Damon? A higher purpose?"

Damon had to concede that might not have been the best choice of words. "Well, okay, that might be a slight exaggeration, although I think survival could be considered a higher purpose."

Elena gave him another one of those superior, admonishing looks that seemed to be her favorite way of looking at him. He wondered if she had learned it from Stefan. "You don't have to kill to survive, Damon. You can use blood bags – or even animal blood."

Damon shuddered. Now she was even starting to sound like Saint Stefan. "I am _not_ drinking animal blood. Why are we even talking about this anyway? I haven't killed anyone in . . ." He paused, thinking. It really had been a while. "Way too long."

"You act like that's a bad thing."

Damon sighed. "Look, let's just stop, okay, Elena?"

"Okay. I don't want to fight with you, Damon. Can we just spend some time together again? Please?"

Damon smirked as a thought occurred to him. "I know. We'll double-date."

Elena flinched, and Damon felt a bit pleased at this confirmation of his theory that she was jealous. "That wasn't exactly what I had in mind."

"Fine. We'll . . . hang out, or something." He wasn't sure why he had agreed to that, given the way their relationship seemed to be going. But maybe they could get back to where they had once been. There had been a time when he had thought that Elena understood him better than anyone else, and he did miss the moments they had had together.

Elena gave him a soft smile, her eyes and voice now warm. "Good. I'd like that." Damon was reminded that he had once thought she was the most beautiful woman in the world. She turned and left with another small smile.

As Elena's steps moved away up the stairs and her scent faded from the air, Damon slumped onto the couch, staring blankly into the fire. For so many months, he wanted nothing more than for Elena Gilbert to acknowledge that she had feelings for him, and for many more months, he wanted nothing more than for her to choose him. He had thought that he had shut that door forever, but Elena had just nudged it open again and he didn't know what to think. Damon wasn't quite sure where his love for Elena had come from, other than the snippets of compassion that she had shown him at a time when he had almost forgotten that such a thing existed, but he guessed that he had thought that they might balance each other. Damon knew Elena could be fun. He had seen it, once or twice, and he wanted to bring that out of her. And in return, she could help keep his darkness in check.

But now . . . now he had Becca, and he couldn't remember ever being happier than he had been over the past week with her. Becca accepted him in a way that was almost totally unfamiliar to Damon. She understood him, and she liked him, and her passion seemed to be a perfect match for his. He thought they had something special. But he also thought that Elena needed him. She needed him to protect her, and she needed him because of all the people that she had lost – and Damon had always been a sucker for a damsel in distress. Becca, on the other hand, was one of the most powerful beings in the world. She had adapted almost seamlessly to the twenty-first century, and she was always confident and self-possessed. She had shown him the occasional moment of vulnerability, but did Becca really need him? Would she ever need him?

Damon knew that he had fallen hard for Becca, and he thought that she felt the same way. But what if he was wrong? He had a long history of making a fool of himself over love (it was kind of the story of his life), and what if there was something he was missing, something that Stefan and Elena could see and he couldn't? But then there was the blood bond that let him sense what Becca was feeling when they were together, and it sure seemed to match what he was feeling. And it wasn't like Elena was ready to choose him. She was still with Stefan; she just wanted Damon back in her orbit, focused on her. Damon shook his head, suddenly feeling decisive. No, he was done playing that game. This time he could make the choice, and he chose Becca. Or he thought he did. He buried his face in his hands, thoroughly confused. Shit.

•••••

Damon walked out his front door, car keys in hand. He was headed to the Grill to meet Ric. He suspected that Amaya would be there, too, and that Ric had requested Damon's presence so that he could get to know the witch without the pressure of a real date. After Elena had messed with his head earlier that day, Damon needed the distraction. And with Becca out of town, he certainly didn't have anything better to do, so he was looking forward to teasing Ric all night.

Damon paused on the steps, senses suddenly alert. Something was off. Before he could pinpoint anything, however, another vampire had slammed him back into his own front door and buried a stake in his stomach. Damon gasped at the pain, doubling over. A second later he felt a prick in his arm and a concentrated dose of vervain burned through his body. His legs gave out entirely, and he crashed down onto his front steps. Damon struggled to hold onto consciousness, but the pain swamped his mind and he fell into blackness.

**A/N: **_Time to step up the action on this story, and in my stories that often means Damon in trouble. Thanks for reading and please review!_


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: **_This one is kind of short, but you'll probably see why I wanted to end it where I did.__ For those who wanted to read the phone sex scene, sorry but I'm doing this story without any true smut (although maybe pushing the boundaries occasionally) so you will have to imagine that for yourself. Maybe someday I'll do something like the "smut outtakes" for this story, but it's not really my comfort zone as a writer, I'm afraid._**  
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**Chapter 11**

A thousand miles away in Chicago, Becca suddenly clutched at her stomach as pain rushed through her. "Damon . . ." She gasped out his name as she realized that it wasn't her own pain that she had felt; it was his. Someone had attacked Damon. She had felt it when he had been attacked at the Seventies Dance, too, but this was worse. He was hurt worse. Frantic, she reached out through the bond between them. He wasn't dead. She was certain of that, but she got no response as she sought him out. Nothing but another wave of pain, duller this time. And she realized that pain was all that Damon was feeling right now.

She looked up to find Elijah, Magdalena, and Alexander all staring at her in puzzlement. She tried to answer the unspoken question in their eyes. "It is Damon. Someone hurt him."

Magdalena looked at her skeptically. "Rebecca, how do you know that?"

Becca answered absently. "We formed a blood bond." She fumbled for her bag and fished out her phone, dialing his number. Her hand shook as she willed him to answer even as she knew that he wouldn't. Couldn't. Sure enough his phone rang four times and she heard his voicemail. _Damon's phone. He probably won't call you back, but feel free to waste your time and leave a message._ She closed her eyes at the sound of his low, velvety voice. He would be okay. He had to be. She knew her own voice was shaky. "Damon, it is Becca. Call me back." She stopped there, aware that if someone had taken him prisoner they might listen to any messages.

Next she dialed Stefan. He answered on the third ring, voice puzzled. _"Becca?"_

"Stefan, are you at the house?"

"_No, Elena and I went out to dinner. Why?"_

"Something has happened to Damon. I need you to look for him."

"_What could have happened to Damon? He was going to the Grill to meet Alaric."_

Becca felt her annoyance building, but she tried not to keep it out of her voice. "Something happened to him. I felt it."

Stefan didn't answer right away, and Becca braced herself for an argument. She heard Stefan filling Elena in on their conversation and Elena's worried response. Then Stefan's voice was back, louder. _"Okay, Elena and I will head back to the house and look for him. I'll call you back."_

"Thanks." Becca hung up on Stefan and called Ric. She couldn't believe that Damon needed her and she was a thousand miles away. Not even an Original could cover that kind of territory quickly.

Ric answered immediately. _"Hey Becca. What's up?"_

"Damon is not there, is he?"

"_No, but he should be here any minute."_

"Something happened to him, Ric. I could feel it."

The phone went silent for a moment, and she heard fear in Ric's voice when he spoke again. _"What sort of thing?"_

She shivered. She didn't want to say it out loud. It made it more real. "I felt pain, like maybe he was staked. And . . . he is unconscious right now, wherever he is."

"_Shit. He's alive, though, right?"_

"Yes, I am sure about that. Can you look for him?"

"_Of course. Amaya just walked in the door. I'll get her to help, too. We'll find him, Becca."_

"Thanks. I am catching the first flight back."

•••••

When Alaric and Amaya arrived at the boarding house, Stefan and Elena were already there, kneeling on the front steps. Elena came over as they got out of the car, brown eyes filled with concern that deepened as she apparently read the look on Ric's face. "Becca called you, too, didn't she?"

Ric nodded. "Have you found anything?"

Stefan glanced up. "There's blood on the door and on the step. Probably Damon's. And he dropped his keys." He held them up, and the keys jangled slightly.

"Shit. Becca said she thought he had been staked. So you think he was probably taken?"

Stefan nodded reluctantly. "That would be my guess. If they used vervain, almost anyone could have done it."

Elena suddenly turned around. "Wait a minute. How did Becca know what happened? Isn't she in Chicago?" Ric had to admit that he was wondering that himself, but he had just assumed that it was a vampire thing. Or an Original thing.

Stefan hesitated a moment before answering. "Damon and Becca formed a blood bond."

Elena still looked suspicious. "What's that?"

"It's . . . an exchange of blood between vampires, usually lovers. I've never formed one, but from what I understand, it lets you feel something of what the other person feels. Usually it takes time to develop, but apparently they took a short cut of some kind." He shook his head. "It's typical Damon, somehow."

Ric wasn't sure he could process that information. He noticed that Elena looked shaken by that news, but he decided to ignore her reaction. "It's also typical for this to happen while Becca's out of town. Why is nothing ever easy around here?" He continued after a moment as another thought occurred to him. "Of course, that might not be a coincidence."

Elena looked at him, puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"Well if someone wanted to get to Damon, it would make sense to come after him when Becca isn't around. Assuming you don't want to tangle with an Original, that is."

Stefan looked thoughtful. "For that matter, if someone wanted to get Becca's attention, they just might go after Damon."

Ric knew with a sinking feeling that Stefan was right.

•••••

Damon cracked open his eyes with a groan. He was lying on a hard stone floor, and bars swam blurrily in front of him. He shook his head slightly, trying to clear his vision, and his body failed to respond as he tried to move. As his mind cleared slightly, he recognized the effects of a large dose of vervain in the pervasive weakness of his muscles and the burning ache throughout his body. He tried again to move, and the slight shift of his body set off a wave of excruciating pain through his wrists. When the spots cleared from his vision, his confused mind finally processed that his hands were bound behind him with ropes soaked with more vervain. He could smell his own blood where the herb continued to burn through his skin, and he knew with a sinking feeling that he would be unlikely to regain much of his strength as long as the ropes touched his skin. He had been drinking a small amount of vervain every day for months, but he had nowhere near the level of tolerance that would let him get out of this situation. A few more futile and painful attempts to move and Damon discovered that his feet were bound as well, although at least there his socks protected him from the worst effects of the vervain.

For long moments, Damon just lay there, breathing raggedly and fighting both the pain and the helplessness that he felt. There was really nothing that he could do, and he hated that feeling. He cursed quietly.

He didn't know how much time had passed when the bars moved as someone opened the door to his cell. "Awake so soon?" Before Damon could come up with a response, the voice continued. "We'll have to remedy that situation." Then he felt another prick in his shoulder, and another dose of vervain plunged him back into unconsciousness.

•••••

Damon dragged himself back to consciousness, only to find that his situation had not improved in the slightest. He was still weak as a kitten, and trussed up like a hog – and not only was he mixing his animal metaphors, but there wasn't a dominant predator in the bunch. In short, Damon was helpless. And pissed off.

He had no idea how long he had lain there, squirming periodically against ropes that were fucking tight and not giving way in the slightest. Whoever had tied him up really knew what they were doing, and they had known exactly what effect the constant exposure to vervain would have on him, too. He was not dealing with amateurs here. Still, Damon was starting to wish that someone would show up and get to the torturing, or whatever they had planned for him. He was bored. And, vampire or no, his shoulders and arms hurt from being jerked behind him and held in the same position for so long.

Finally, the door to Damon's cell opened and a man walked in. Damon groaned and tried unsuccessfully to do something useful, like sit up. "Can we just get on with this already?"

The man gave him a bemused look. "Impatient, are we?" He pulled out a long wooden stake and Damon suddenly suspected this was one of those "be careful what you wish for moments." The man – vampire, Damon decided – spoke again. "You are in luck. I've just learned that your lovely girlfriend will be here much sooner than originally anticipated, and I think it's time to send her a message."

"Huh?" Damon stared at the other vampire. He had been expecting this whole thing to be about revenge for someone he had killed during his long and misspent life, and his brain was struggling to process the words he had just heard. He didn't have long to try to puzzle it out. The other vampire paused only a second before driving his stake deep into Damon's stomach, and Damon cried out at the pain. The world swam around him, and he was only vaguely aware of being dragged from his cell, the stake still in his body.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N:** _I'm so sorry that I haven't been updating! Real life caught up with me, but hopefully I will be back to regular updates on this story during the hiatus. This chapter is kind of short, but you'll see why I had to end it where I did.  
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**Disclaimer: **_I do not own _The Vampire Diaries_ or any of the characters from the show. I do own this Rebecca, who is not the same as the Original named Rebekah on the show, as well as the plot and my other O/Cs.__  
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**Chapter 12**

Becca had been on the airplane when she had felt the stake penetrate Damon's body. She had doubled over in her seat, scaring the middle-aged man who was her seatmate in first class and who had been far too interested in her earlier in the flight, to the point where Becca had seriously considered compelling him to leave her alone to worry about Damon in peace. But he and the flight attendant had assumed that she was just feeling ill, and Becca had let them draw that conclusion, closing her eyes and trying not to let worry entirely consume her. She had felt that Damon had been conscious for some time, but now his consciousness was much more muted. In fact, she thought he was slipping in and out of awareness, and she knew he was in a tremendous amount of pain. Luckily, it had been only minutes until the plane had landed, and she had raced off the plane while calling Ric. He picked up immediately, and she skipped all pleasantries. "Anything?"

"_No, neither Stefan nor Amaya have been able to track him. It's like he's disappeared without a trace." _She could hear Ric's frustration in his voice.

"They are hurting him again, more. We need to find him." She paused. "I am getting a car."

"_Renting or compelling?"_

"Compelling, it is faster. I will be there as soon as I can."

It was as Becca settled herself behind the wheel of the sports car she had "borrowed" – it had looked like the fastest of the cars waiting for arriving passengers – that she had an idea. She stopped for a moment, feeling along her bond with Damon. Could she use the bond to find him? She forced herself to explore the layers of pain, tracing the most recent, sharpest pain. Yes, she thought as she snapped her eyes open, she could follow the bond to Damon's location.

As she tore away from the airport, she glanced at her phone. She should call someone for back-up if she was going after Damon. The question was: Ric or Stefan? Stefan would be the more useful in a fight, but she didn't know him as well. And she trusted Ric. She decided she would provide plenty of muscle for the operation, anyway. She picked up her phone again, driving with one hand as she zipped in and out of freeway traffic at well over 100 miles per hour. "Ric, meet me at the gas station at the Mystic Falls exit in fifteen minutes."

"_What's going on, Becca?"_

"I can find Damon. Bring your weapons."

"_How are you going to do that? And how are you going to get from the airport that quickly?"_

Becca rolled her eyes. She was an Original, after all. "Just be there."

Exactly fourteen minutes later, Becca tore into the gas station. She left a trail of rubber as she parked her car next to Ric's. He was leaning against his truck, staring at her. "Nice car. Someone is going to be pissed about losing that."

Becca shrugged. "Not my problem. Are you ready?" She tossed her bag into Ric's backseat. "We can take your car. It is bigger. He is not far."

As Ric slid behind the wheel, he glanced over at her. "Do you mind my asking how you know where Damon is?"

"I discovered I can track him through the blood bond between us. I can follow the pain that he is feeling."

"Shit. I guess that's a good thing, though. Which way?" As Becca directed Ric out of the gas station, focusing on maintaining her connection to Damon's pain, she ran her fingers through her hair. She saw Ric glance over at her, looking worried. He spoke quietly. "Are you okay?"

"I am fine. Damon is not."

"It's just I don't think I've ever seen you act like this before."

"Like what?"

Ric hesitated like he didn't want to say it. "Like a crazy vampire."

"I am a vampire, Ric. In fact, I am an Original. Do not forget it. Turn left here." A moment later, Becca regretted snapping at Ric. Dealing with her siblings, particularly her sister, had been stressful, and then Damon had been attacked when she was too far away to help him. She may have called Damon her _ïh__santhá _to placate Magdalena, but she realized that she definitely thought of him as hers, albeit her partner more than her _ïh__santhá_. But in messing with Damon, someone had messed with her, and Becca would not tolerate that. She knew she was on edge from the stress and the helplessness and the anger that she felt, and she had taken it out on Ric. She glanced over at her friend. "I am sorry."

"It's okay. I get it." A second later, he chuckled softly.

"What?"

"You're a lot better at apologizing than Damon is."

Becca couldn't help but laugh herself at that. "I have had many more years of experience."

Ric's voice was dry. "I don't think that's it." His tone turned more serious a moment later. "You're good for him, Becca."

Becca didn't know what to say to that. Damon was good for her, too, and she had to get him back. Luckily their approach to their destination saved her from having to make a response. "Turn right here. You can wait with the car in those trees."

Ric pulled the truck into a concealed spot in the trees and turned to look at Becca. "Shouldn't we call for reinforcements? Like Stefan or Amaya or Caroline? Or all three of them? I hate to say it, but any of them would be more use than me."

Becca shook her head. "We do not need an army. Then they would see us coming. I am going to get Damon out, and you will stay ready to drive us out of here." She didn't mention that she intended to kill everyone involved in hurting Damon.

Ric glanced down at his watch. "So how long do you think this will take?"

"Why? Do you have somewhere else to be?"

"I've been in Mystic Falls long enough to know that things seldom go as planned. Just wondering when I should start worrying that something has gone wrong."

Becca tilted her head at him. "Relax. We will be back before you know it." She sped away toward the building just beyond the trees, but she heard Ric's voice behind her.

"I'll relax when you do."

•••••

Killing the two vampires guarding the door to the building was child's play for Becca, and she slipped silently inside. She passed several empty rooms before she came to one with a locked door. She was suddenly certain that Damon was inside. She was still hyperaware of the bond between them, and as she focused, she heard unsteady breathing and a single heartbeat on the other side of the door. Becca snapped the lock effortlessly and tore the door halfway off its hinges as she opened it.

Becca burst into a good-sized room, and she saw him. Damon lay on his side, facing away from her and barely conscious. His wrists and ankles were bound with ropes, and Becca could smell his blood where the vervain on the ropes had burned deep into his wrists. His skin still smoked from the contact with the herb. A wave of anger like nothing she had felt in hundreds of years washed over her, and she saw red and felt her face changing involuntarily. How dare anyone hurt Damon like this? A small part of her was afraid of the intensity of her fury, aware of just how much power she held, but the rest of her just let the anger burn freely. She vowed again that she would kill whoever had done this to Damon, and they would suffer for it.

Damon moved slightly, groaning, and Becca flashed across the room to his side. "Damon, it is me. I am going to get you out of here." To her horror, Becca saw that a stake was protruding from his stomach, and she jerked it free with a growl, tossing the wood aside.

Damon's voice was a harsh whisper. "Becca?" He shifted again, trying to turn to see her.

"Shh, do not try to talk." Becca turned her attention to the ropes binding Damon, and she snarled as the vervain burned her skin.

Damon was still trying to speak, his words slurred with pain. "Trap. It's a trap."

Becca only half heard him. She tore off a piece of her shirt to provide some protection for her hands, but before she could snap the ropes that bound Damon, a door on the near wall flew open. Her attention had been focused solely on Damon, and a light dusting of powder landed on her before even she could react. Becca felt herself falling backward, unable to move. She twitched on the ground, helpless and furious. It was a paralyzation spell, magic being one of the few things that could affect an Original, and she realized with a start that the powder that had been thrown onto her contained some of the ash from the white oak tree to augment the power of the spell and personalize it for her.

Becca strained against the magic, confident that even with the ash it wouldn't hold her for more than a few seconds, but a figure appeared above her in those seconds. She knew the man. It was a vampire that she had known for centuries before her death, although they had never been friends. She hadn't known that he was still alive, but he was certainly one of the oldest vampires in the world. She gasped out his name. "William."

"Hello, Rebecca." Moving at a speed that not even most vampire eyes could follow, William scooped up the stake that Becca had pulled from Damon's body. Without a moment's hesitation, he drove the stake right into Becca's heart with all of his strength. Becca gasped out one final breath as she felt her body dying.

•••••

Damon had felt Becca's shock through their bond as she collapsed back away from him, and he struggled uselessly against his bindings, far too weak to have any success at getting free. He couldn't see what was happening, but he heard Becca recognize her attacker. A second later, Damon felt something that he had never before experienced in his years as a vampire. He felt a stake enter his heart, and he knew nothing more.

**A/N: **_Sorry, cliffhanger ;) But I will try really hard to update soon. Please read and review - I would love to hear what you think._


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

William looked down impassively at Rebecca's body. That had gone remarkably smoothly, he thought as two younger vampires and his witch entered the room. He gestured down at the gray and dessicated figure. "Grab her body. I'm not sure how long it will be until she begins to revive."

One of the vampires glanced over at Damon. "What about that one?"

William shrugged dismissively. "He's not going anywhere." Rebecca had not even managed to untie his bait, and the black-haired vampire was unconscious again, probably a side effect of the blood bond that he shared with Rebecca and that had allowed her to find him so quickly.

"Should I just stake him?"

William shook his head. "No, he will still be useful in controlling Rebecca since she is foolish enough to care for him."

•••••

Alaric tapped impatiently on the steering wheel. He was _not_ good at this waiting in the car stuff, and he was certain that Becca should have been back by now with Damon if nothing had gone wrong. He checked his watch, vowing to give her a few more minutes. He really hadn't liked Becca's lack of a plan, and he wasn't at all convinced that she was thinking clearly, not that he could entirely blame her. He was worried about Damon, too, but now he had to add Becca to his list of vampires to worry about. He shook his head, wondering not for the first time how exactly he had gotten himself into this life.

Two minutes later, Ric was cursing himself for a fool as he gathered up his weapons. He should trust the all-powerful Original vampire, he knew, but his instincts were screaming at him that it had been too long. Something had gone wrong. He left the keys in the ignition just in case Becca and Damon made it back before he did and slipped out of the car, heading toward the building where Becca had been certain Damon was being held.

Ric found two guards, both vampires, dead on the ground outside the building, their hearts ripped from their bodies, and he decided it was a safe assumption that Becca had passed this way. He crept toward the door and eased it open, his own heart pounding in his chest. He was well aware that the sound was probably a siren screaming for all nearby vampires to come and get him, but controlling his heart rate was easier said than done.

Inside, Ric glanced down a hallway. Halfway down, he saw a door that hung crookedly from one hinge. Since the rest of the building seemed in good repair, he guessed that broken door was probably another sign that Becca had been there.

Keeping close to the wall, Ric crept down the hallway toward the broken door. It seemed to take forever, but he finally reached the door and looked into a large room. Damon lay unmoving in the middle of the room, his hands and feet bound with ropes. There was no sign of Becca or any other vampires. Ric kept one hand on his weapons as he crossed the room and knelt by Damon. He whispered the vampire's name and shook his shoulder, but there was no response. Ric cursed quietly and started fumbling with the ropes around Damon's wrists. From the state of his friend's skin, the ropes had been soaked in vervain, and Ric hoped that Damon would wake up if he could get them off. Unfortunately, the ropes had been tied when they were wet, and the knot had dried impossibly tight. Cursing again, Ric finally gave up and dug in his pocket for his utility knife. He thought that it was a good thing he had been a boy scout and had developed the habit of always carrying a knife (along with a stake and a vervain dart, although those were more recently acquired habits). The knife wasn't very sharp, and he nicked Damon's skin more than once as he sawed at the thick ropes. He didn't think Damon would complain too much about a few small cuts – hell, the vampire would heal almost instantly – and Ric knew he needed to get Damon out of there as quickly as possible, before someone came along and noticed his rescue attempt. He also couldn't help but wonder what had happened to Becca.

Damon still hadn't stirred when the ropes around his wrists finally gave way, and Ric turned his attentions to the ropes binding his friend's ankles, feeling increasingly worried. He wasn't at all sure he could carry Damon out of there, and they would both be sitting ducks if he tried. After a few agonizingly slow minutes, Ric had Damon's feet free, and he flipped his friend onto his back. He shook him again. "Damon, wake up." Still no response. He slapped Damon lightly, wishing he had a bucket of cold water or, better yet, a blood bag. How exactly did you wake up an unconscious vampire? Ric could see the two tears in Damon's shirt where the vampire had been staked, but the stakes were gone now, so he thought Damon should be waking up soon. Unless his friend had been dosed with vervain, which was more than possible. Not knowing what else to do, he slapped Damon again, slightly harder this time.

Ric looked frantically around the room for anything he could use to wake Damon, or move Damon, but a moment later he turned back as the vampire groaned. His friend's eyes opened slightly, and Damon looked at him, confused. "Ric?"

"Yeah, Damon. It's me. We need to get you out of here. Can you stand?" Ric knew right away that was a stupid question. Damon seemed to be barely able to open his eyes.

Damon ignored him entirely, and he watched as Damon slowly brought a hand to his chest, feeling where his heart would be. The vampire's voice was still rough and uncertain, his blue eyes half-open and cloudy. "How am I . . . . I felt . . ."

Ric frowned. Now _he_ was confused.

Damon looked around and tried to sit up, although he immediately fell back. His eyes were slightly clearer now. "Becca. Where's Becca?"

"I don't know. Did she find you?"

Damon nodded. "She was here. Something happened." He tried again to sit up, and this time Ric was ready and helped him get to a sitting position. He thought, although he wasn't sure, that the skin on Damon's wrists was beginning to heal from the vervain. He hoped that was a good sign even though Damon was clearly still pretty out of it.

"I don't know what went wrong – I was just supposed to be driving the getaway car. But right now, we need to get out of here. Becca can take care of herself."

Damon shook his head. "Need to find her."

"And do what? How are you going to help her like this?" Ric was certain that Becca would want him to get Damon away from there. If they had to, they could get reinforcements and come back to look for her. "Come on. Get up before someone finds us." Ric hauled Damon to his feet, awkwardly slinging Damon's arm over his shoulder to half-carry the vampire. After just one step, Damon's legs gave out, and Ric just barely managed to keep them both upright. "Fuck, how much vervain did they give you?"

Damon's words were still slightly slurred. "Too much."

"That's an understatement." Ric wondered how the hell he was going to get a punch-drunk Damon out of there. He was supposed to be just the backup on this rescue attempt, after all, and right now he definitely thought that Becca should have brought Stefan or even Caroline. She clearly had not anticipated this turn of events. Luckily, it wasn't far to the door, and by the time they reached the hallway Damon seemed to have regained enough equilibrium that he could at least bear most of his own weight.

Alaric felt like there was a bulls-eye burned onto his back as they made slow progress down the hallway and out the front door. But nothing happened; no one seemed to be pursuing them, and Ric half-dragged Damon to the car and maneuvered the vampire into the front seat. Then he reached into the cooler in the back seat and handed a blood bag to his friend. "Drink this." At least he had enough experience dealing with vampires by now to know what to bring on a rescue mission, Ric thought ruefully.

Two more blood bags later, Damon was acting much more like himself. Of course, that meant he was reckless and completely unconcerned with his own safety. Intense blue eyes zeroed in on Ric. "We have to go back for her."

Ric sighed. "Damon, you're in no condition to do anything of the sort."

Damon glared at him. "I'm fine. Mostly. And I'm not leaving her behind."

Ric shook his head. "Becca can take care of herself. She can't be killed, remember? And what kind of prison could hold her?" Becca wore her power lightly compared to the other Originals Ric had encountered – where Klaus had always been openly, sadistically threatening and Elijah conveyed an air of quiet danger beneath his façade of calm sophistication, Becca usually appeared to be nothing more than a carefree young woman. But Ric had seen her in action more than once during their long battle against Klaus and his minions and he knew just how powerful she was.

Damon shook his head. "Ric, I felt a stake in the heart, and I'm here talking to you so clearly Becca was the one who was staked. Hell, it could have even been a dagger for all we know. Something happened to Becca, and I'm not leaving her."

"Doesn't Elijah have all the daggers?

"Maybe he lost one, maybe he's in on it. I don't know. Look, this whole thing was a trap for Becca, and that guy was ready for her. He wouldn't have gone to all this trouble just to say hi." Damon looked at him pleadingly, his voice suddenly filled with emotion, like he could no longer hold it in check. "I can't feel anything from her right now, Ric."

Ric looked at his friend, feeling his own worry for Becca increase at the sight of what passed for near panic from the ever-cool Damon Salvatore. "Let's get reinforcements and come back, then."

Damon glared at him stubbornly. "That would take too long. Right now we know where they are and we have the advantage of surprise."

"Only if they haven't noticed that you're missing."

"Even if they've missed me, they won't expect me to come back."

Ric had to admit that Damon had a point there, but only because going back was such a monumentally stupid idea. He sighed again, already knowing that he was going to lose the argument. Damon was way too good at using those big blue eyes to make his case, and it really did look like Becca was in trouble. "Can we at least call Stefan for back up?"

Damon shook his head. "He's probably with Elena, so if we call him, she'll insist on coming. You know how she likes to throw herself into the middle of every dangerous situation, and Stefan can't say no to her, so . . ."

Unfortunately, Ric could see Damon's point. "He might not be with Elena."

"Fine, give me your phone."

Ric pulled it out of his pocket reluctantly. "Where's yours?"

Damon rolled his eyes. "I was staked, vervained, and kidnapped, Ric. I have no idea."

Ric reluctantly handed over his phone and watched as Damon typed a text message to Stefan. _R u with Elena?_ The teacher in Ric winced at the abbreviations, but he raised a different issue. "Shouldn't we tell him that you're alive?"

Damon shrugged. "He'd just want an explanation that we don't have time to give him, and he'd show up here with Elena in tow. He'll find out soon enough."

The beep that signaled Stefan's reply cut off Ric's comeback. _Yes. Why?_

Damon shot Ric a look that clearly said "I told you so." _Good. Stay there and keep your eyes open._

_What's going on?_

Damon handed the phone back to Ric without replying.

Ric sighed. "You know I'm going to have to explain that, right?"

Damon shrugged. "Or you'll die today and those will be your last known words."

Ric let out a short bark of laughter. "Damon Salvatore – ever the optimist. Remind me again why I rescued you."

Damon smiled crookedly at him. "Because you secretly love me."

"No, that's not it. I think it was because your girlfriend is very persuasive, not to mention insanely powerful."

"I do have good taste in women."

Ric shook his head. Damon was irrepressible. "Yeah. It's _her_ taste that I'm wondering about right now."

Damon's expression said that he knew he had won. "You wound me, Ric. Let's get her out of there so you can tell her how I'm not worthy of her."

Ric closed his eyes with a sigh of frustration. "Can we at least try Caroline or Amaya first for back up?"

Damon sighed and visibly hesitated. Ric suspected that Damon was taking stock of his own strength – or maybe that was giving the vampire too much credit for sensible caution. But then Damon surprised him. "How quickly can they get here?"

•••••

William glanced worriedly at the door to the room containing the cage where he had imprisoned Rebecca. He turned as he heard one of his other vampires approaching, frowning when he saw that the man was empty-handed. "What happened?"

"He was gone, sir."

William glared at the younger vampire. "Gone? That's impossible. There is no way he could have gotten loose."

"The ropes were cut, sir."

"Damn it." He could only assume that Rebecca had not come alone, as they had expected. Clearly, he should have left a guard on his first prisoner. William shook his head. This plan was going more and more wrong all the time, and he was certain that he should cut his losses and get out now. The original plan had been simple and solid – kidnap Rebecca's favorite vampire and use him to distract, manipulate, and control her. They hadn't known about the blood bond that she had formed with him, however. William wasn't sure why she would do such a thing. He supposed that Damon Salvatore was attractive (although not really his type), but there seemed to be nothing particularly special about the young vampire. But the blood bond meant that there was no way to hide his prisoner from Rebecca for any length of time; not even magic could block that bond.

William had wanted to cut their losses and allow Damon to escape, leaving no one the wiser about the real motives behind his capture, but his allies had insisted that they could still salvage the situation. Now, however, instead of the simple task of holding one young vampire captive, William was supposed to somehow hold Rebecca, and he was certain that spells, stakes, and cages were not going to do the trick, even for a day. He had planned to threaten the life of his other captive in order to keep Rebecca compliant, but now that plan was out the window, too. He sighed. He hadn't survived for seven hundred years by being stupid, but he had a truly glorious prize – something he had craved for a very, very long time – awaiting him if he succeeded with this operation. And he was well aware that the power dynamics of the vampire world had shifted dramatically with the death of Klaus and the awakening of the other Originals. It was very important to be on the right side in this new situation, even for a vampire as old and powerful as William, and his best chance at that was not to piss off his allies, especially since Rebecca would certainly be after him if she got free. Unfortunately, those allies had left him to take all the risks right now with no more help than a few spells that would allegedly slow Rebecca down. He was going to need all the luck he could get.

•••••

Damon stared at a small residue of light gray powder on the arm of his black shirt. He raised his hand to brush it off and stopped. He had a vague feeling that the powder had significance, and suddenly he thought he knew. It had landed on him when Becca had been attacked as she had tried to rescue him, and it reminded him of something . . .

"Shit." Damon knew what the powder was, and he was right that he had seen it before – it was ash from the white oak tree. That just confirmed his theory that his captors had laid a trap for Becca. He was out of Ric's car in a second, unable to stay confined in the small space. He braced his hands against the hood of the SUV, staring at them blankly. If their enemies had the ash, they might have had a dagger, and Becca might really be gone. Dead, and not just for a few hours.

He pounded his hand against the car in frustration. He had to go back now, find Becca before they moved her body. He still couldn't feel anything through their bond, and he could only assume that meant Becca was dead, either temporarily with a stake or semi-permanently with a dagger. He couldn't bear the thought of losing her. If Damon had any doubts about who he really loved, they were answered by the pit in his stomach and the crippling despair he felt at the thought of losing Becca. He leaned over the hood of Ric's car, his face in his hands, fighting the despair that threatened to break him. Becca couldn't be dead, he told himself. But he still couldn't feel anything through their bond, nothing but an emptiness where his connection to Becca should have been.

Ric was out of the car now, too, reacting to Damon's agitation. "Damon, what's going on?"

It took Damon a long moment to gather himself enough for words. He rubbed a hand across his eyes, removing the trace of tears that he couldn't allow anyone, even Ric, to see. He gestured to the powder on his shirt before finally finding a choked semblance of his voice. "They had the ash, Ric. I have to go now."

Ric looked puzzled. He pointed at the small dent in the hood of his car with a wince. "You barely even damaged my car, Damon. You're still weak."

"Fuck." Ric was right. That was a pathetically tiny dent that he had made (although Ric would probably make him pay for the repairs, so that might not be entirely bad). Damon hated his own weakness in that moment, aware that it was true that he wouldn't be much use to Becca like this. He took a deep breath, trying to pull himself together.

Ric was looking at him sympathetically. "Just wait for Caroline and Amaya, and we'll find her."

Damon glared at his friend. "Fine." More importantly, his body should be restoring itself every minute as the remainder of the vervain left his system. He would find Becca and get her out of there, he told himself firmly. There was no alternative.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Becca gasped in air around the excruciating pain of a stake in her heart as her body gradually restored itself from its temporary state of dessication. There was just one slight problem. The paralyzation spell was still in effect, so Becca couldn't move to extract the stake and it was hard to gather enough power to break the spell as long as a piece of wood was lodged in her heart. Her body was forcing the stake out as it healed itself, but that was one agonizing fraction of an inch at a time. She needed that stake out _now_, she thought in frustration as she struggled against the spell that kept her immobile. For several minutes, Becca just lay there, unable to move, an unfamiliar feeling of weakness and helplessness filling her. She hadn't felt anything like it since the moment when she knew Klaus had defeated her and was going to kill her, but luckily there was no Klaus and no dagger this time. She felt strength gradually returning to her limbs despite the stake in her body, and finally she was able to tear her right arm through the spell that held her immobile. A second later, it was as though a massive weight lifted off her entire body as the spell gave way. Becca could move again.

She closed her eyes and maneuvered her hands to the stake, jerking the wood up and out of her body. She shook herself a little, trying unsuccessfully to dislodge the feeling of death, as she sat up. One glance around her only made Becca more furious at the entire situation. Not only had William staked her – and he really should know better – but he had locked her in a goddamn cage.

She got to her knees and crawled to the bars of the cage, only to encounter an invisible barrier of some kind. Another spell. She growled softly. She was hungry, tired, and she still stank of death, but of course there was no blood in her cage, and no prospect for any until she had broken out of there. She smashed a fist into the spell, aware that she wasn't even close to full strength. The spell held, and Becca sighed. She was having a really bad day. She channeled her power and struck again.

•••••

Damon was pacing impatiently beside Alaric's car, waiting for their reinforcements to arrive, when he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest. He gasped as the excruciating pain drove him to his knees, and he found himself clutching at where his heart would be (if he had one, of course).

Ric suddenly appeared around the side of the car, staring at him with concern. "Damon, what happened? Are you okay?"

Damon forced in a deep breath and looked up at Ric. He smiled through the pain. "I'm fine. Becca's alive." He started to try to stand up and thought better of it. "Although I think she still has a stake in her heart."

Ric nodded with understanding. "This is your blood bond again, isn't it? That seems a bit inconvenient."

Damon shook his head. "Nah, imagine it during sex." He grinned devilishly at Ric.

Ric groaned. "TMI, Damon."

Damon wasn't quite ready to drop the conversation. It was a good distraction from the pain, and it was fun to watch Ric get flustered. "You don't want to picture us having sex?"

"No, I really don't."

"Oh, come on. We're hot."

"Just shut up, okay?"

Yep, Ric's heart rate had definitely sped up. Damon's grin widened, although he finally did shut up (having achieved his goal). He stayed on his knees, waiting for the pain to subside. Surely it wouldn't take long for Becca to get the stake out of her heart, would it? But Damon welcomed the pain because it told him that Becca was back among the living undead. Relief washed through him as he realized that this meant that their enemies didn't have a dagger.

Minutes later, the pain was supplanted by a white hot fury, and Damon couldn't help but smile at that. That was his girl. He got to his feet, one hand braced on Ric's car as he gave his friend an update. "No more stake, and she's pissed."

He could feel the fury building and then finally, minutes later, a sense of relief, of freedom. Becca had broken out of whatever prison they had put her in – Damon was almost certain of it. But that created a new set of potential problems. He turned to Ric, who had remained silent, watching him. "Sorry, can't wait any more."

Ric looked at him with total incomprehension. "Why on earth not?"

"Becca is free, but she won't know that you got me out."

"How do you know that?"

Damon rolled his eyes. Sometimes Ric could be a little slow. "The blood bond, Ric."

"Damon . . ."

Damon cut off whatever argument his friend was intending to make. "I have to find her before she wastes time looking for me or runs into another trap. You can stay here if you want."

Ric shook his head. "Let me just text Amaya and Caroline. They should be here any minute."

Damon ignored him, turning and heading back toward the building at a slow jog. He heard Ric curse behind him, but he left his friend to catch up on his own. It was a short trip to the door of the building, and Damon spared a quick glance for the two dead vampires still lying by the door, more aware of them than he had been when Ric had dragged him out of there. He entered the building carefully, keeping utterly silent. He had a strong suspicion that the vampire who had captured him, the one in charge, was old and powerful, so it would be better to avoid an encounter with him if at all possible, especially since Damon knew he was still at much less than full strength. He would figure something out if he had to fight, though. He always figured something out.

Damon was only a quarter of the way down the wide hallway when one of the doors farther down was suddenly flung open. He flattened himself uselessly against the wall, suddenly wishing that invisibility was one of his abilities as a vampire. It turned out not to matter, though, because the figure that came through the door was Becca. Her blond hair was wild, her clothes were messy and spotted with blood, and there was a crazy glint in her eyes that Damon wasn't sure he had ever seen before, even during the worst of their battle against Klaus. He stepped away from the wall without the slightest hesitation anyway, choking out her name. With a little cry, she flew down the hallway and into his arms, and he clutched her to him desperately. Her body was solid against his, and her arms closed around him with painful strength – and he didn't care, because she was back in his arms.

She spoke first, a whisper into his chest. "You are okay. I was afraid, once they had me . . ."

Damon cut her off. "I felt you die." A shudder ran through him. "I felt you die, Becca."

"I know, and I am sorry." She looked up at him with an apology in her dark eyes, and Damon wondered what she had to be sorry for. None of this was her fault. But he didn't ask her what she meant, focusing on the feeling of her slight body against his.

It had become a familiar feeling, but in that moment, holding her again meant everything to Damon. He could feel that the bond between them was as strong as ever, and a wave of overwhelming relief washed over him. He hadn't lost her. He buried his face in her crazy hair and just tightened his grip on her. His voice was rough, barely audible. "All that matters is that you're alive."

Becca shifted in his arms then and stretched up to kiss him. It was a passionate, desperate kiss that Damon returned in full. He knew from her kiss that Becca was as relieved to find him safe and okay as he was to have her back in his arms where she belonged.

Their kiss was interrupted a moment later when Ric cleared his throat from behind him. "Uh, guys? We should probably get out of here."

As Damon reluctantly withdrew his lips from Becca's, he heard another voice, this time from further down the hallway. It dripped with sarcasm. "Isn't this a touching reunion? But I'm afraid I can't allow you to leave." It was the vampire who had held him captive.

•••••

Becca turned around at the sound of William's voice, pulling away from Damon. This was good, she thought. William needed to die, and she would be happy to do the honors. The worst of her fury had dissipated at the sight of Damon standing in that hallway, alive and well, although she still felt a slow burn of anger at everything William had done to both of them. She had been terrified that he would kill Damon as soon as he had her imprisoned, and she had been horribly aware that she had failed to even help Damon before being captured herself. She knew that it had to have been Ric who got Damon free, and not for the first time, she blessed their friend's resourcefulness.

But even as Becca began planning William's death, he was joined in the hallway by two other vampires and a woman whom she could only assume to be a witch. Becca hesitated. She knew she could take William, even at less than full strength, but she wasn't sure how Damon was feeling right now. And she wasn't at all certain that she could both protect him and Ric _and_ kill a vampire who had walked the earth for almost as many years as she had. She realized then that she was going to have to try, though. She and Damon could run, as much as it would kill her to do so, but Ric would never get away, and she wasn't about to leave him behind.

She felt Damon step up beside her, and she knew with certainty that he was prepared to fight, too. Unfortunately, she had no idea how strong the two vampires with William were, and no idea if Damon would be able to match one, let alone both, of them after everything he had been through. And the witch was a dangerous wildcard who could decide the entire fight. Becca had fought through two powerful spells already in getting out of that cage, and if this witch had cast those, she had a feeling that they were in serious trouble.

As Becca was trying to calculate their odds, she saw William's hand begin to move. Before she could react, Damon was diving in front of her, and she cried out his name in horror as she realized what he had done. William had thrown another small handful of ash, undoubtedly linked to a spell, and Damon had just intercepted the ash and the magic meant for her. Becca felt a wave of terror at the thought of what a spell meant to stop an Original might do to Damon, but a second later, he was rolling smoothly to his feet, seemingly unharmed. He smirked, looking pleased with himself. "I guess your ash doesn't work on a regular little vampire like me."

Becca attacked William immediately, wanting to take full advantage of the success of one of Damon's characteristic crazy gambles. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Damon engage with one of the other vampires, and she heard a whistling sound followed by a thud and a groan. She smiled at the thought of Ric's fondness for elaborate weapons, suspecting that her friend had just fired a stake into the remaining vampire's heart – Ric probably had at least one wrist launcher concealed under his sleeves and his aim had become very, very good. They might be outgunned, but her friends were used to being the underdogs, after all. Hell, they had even found a way to stop her brother, Klaus, and his hybrids.

Becca easily shook off an attempt at an aneurysm spell from the witch. She hit William hard, sending the other vampire flying into the wall, and quickly closed her fingers around his throat. Her words were a growl. "You should have known better than to attack me."

But she had to strain more than she should have to keep William penned to the wall, and he actually laughed when she had to slam him back with her left hand when he almost broke free. "Feeling a little weak, Rebecca?"

"Strong enough to kill you." But before Becca could finish off the other vampire, she heard Damon cry out behind her, and she realized that the witch had wisely changed her strategy to attack the more vulnerable target. Damon was on the ground, clutching his head, and Becca could only watch as the vampire that Damon had been fighting kicked him hard, sending him flying twenty feet down the hallway. The witch hadn't stopped her spell either, and Becca could feel Damon's agony as a throbbing in her own head. She knew he was hanging onto consciousness through sheer stubborn willpower as his brain continued to explode with wave after wave of pain, but she had to ignore his suffering because she knew she couldn't afford to let her attention slip too far from a dangerous vampire like William.

With Damon still down, the unoccupied vampire turned his attention to Ric. Unfortunately, Ric seemed to be out of tricks, and stakes, because the vampire drove him into the wall across from where Becca had trapped William. Out of the corner of her eye, Becca could see Ric struggling fruitlessly against the much greater strength of the vampire.

Furious and aware that her friends needed her help, Becca began to dig her hand into William's body, aiming for his heart. He stopped her, though, gasping out the words. "Should we kill your friends in front of you, Rebecca? Maybe the human first, then your pet vampire? Are you willing to trade their lives for mine?"

Becca stopped at that because she was not, in fact, willing to make that trade. But then the equation changed entirely with the unexpected (at least to her) arrival of reinforcements. She saw a blond streak that she recognized as Caroline tackle the vampire pinning Ric to the wall, and Amaya was there as well with a spell that staggered the other witch, forcing her to drop the spell that was torturing Damon. Becca tilted her head and grinned at William. "I have other friends, too." And with those words, she drove her hand deep into the other vampire's body until she felt his heart beating in her hand. With one quick pull, she tore his heart from his chest and watched him die.

Caroline had buried a stake in the other vampire's chest, and as Becca turned around, she saw that William's witch was backing against a wall, hands up in a gesture of surrender. Ric was climbing to his feet with a groan, but Becca was suddenly worried that Damon had stayed down. That was unusual enough that she flashed over to his side. Her voice was quiet with worry as she touched his shoulder. "Damon?"

His breathing was ragged, and she could see and feel it as he gathered himself. But a moment later his words reassured her. "I fucking hate that spell."

Becca couldn't help but smile as she gave his shoulder another reassuring stroke. The words reminded her that she still had a witch to deal with, however. William might have been the mastermind, but the witch had played an integral role in the entire operation – which meant that she had hurt Damon more than once. She got to her feet and flashed back over to where the witch had stayed still, eyes wide, against the wall.

Becca had every intention of snapping the woman's neck, but Amaya stepped forward. "Becca, stop."

Becca turned to face the witch that she knew and raised an eyebrow. She tamped down her annoyance at Amaya's tone, aware that the woman deserved some consideration for coming to their aid. "Why? She is the enemy."

Amaya kept her head high and her tone level. "We witches will deal with our own." At Becca's skeptical look, she continued. "We have been negotiating a deal with Elijah – it's part of why I'm here in Mystic Falls."

"Elijah has not mentioned anything."

Amaya shook her head. "It's not final yet," she admitted. "But please – let me deal with her."

Ric stepped forward then, too. "She's human, Becca. You can't kill her. Let Amaya handle it." A moment later, he added, "Besides, she might know something useful."

Becca glared at her friend, angry that he was taking the witch's side. She didn't understand what the woman being human had to do with anything. Becca killed her enemies, regardless of species. This woman had participated in a plot to kidnap both Damon and herself, and she had hurt Damon badly more than once. She shook her head. "She should die." Caroline was looking back and forth, obviously uncomfortable with the disagreement among her friends. Damon was still on his hands and knees further down the hallway, but Becca could see his bright blue eyes taking everything in. She couldn't read his expression, but she thought that he would support her if it came to that.

"Please, Becca," Ric repeated.

Becca gave her friend a long look. She respected Ric, and she didn't want to fight with him. "Fine. Get her out of here before I change my mind."

Amaya nodded. "Thank you."

Becca turned away and flashed back down the hall to Damon, still not certain she had made the right decision. She thought that she should move away before she changed her mind and snapped a neck.

Caroline followed her down the hall. "Now that that's settled – why didn't you call me? I had to hear about your rescue plan from _Ric_ – and after it was already under way. At least I got here in time to save the day."

Becca stared at the blond vampire, confused. Beside her, Damon collapsed back to the ground in a fit of hysterical laughter. Always the quick thinker, he choked out a defense of her between convulsions. "We didn't . . . call . . . Stefan . . . at all." As always, the beautiful sound of Damon's laugh brought a smile to Becca's face, and she felt her own laughter bubbling up.

Caroline stared at them both. "Well in that case. But next time, you better call me first."

Between giggles, Becca smiled at the younger vampire who was her friend. "I will remember." She reached down to help a still chuckling Damon to his feet. It was past time to get him home.

**A/N: **_I hope everyone could follow the fight scene - that was a complicated one with so many players involved._ _Most of the action scenes I've written have been a lot simpler. As always thanks for reading and double thanks if you review!_


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N:** _Time for a sappy, emotional chapter. With shower scene. Hope you like it, and thanks for reading!_

**Disclaimer:** _As always, I don't own anything except my original characters, who include Rebecca (no pun intended).__  
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**Chapter 15**

Back at the house, Becca stood under the stream of water from the shower, momentarily lost in thought and more tired than she wanted to admit. She and her siblings liked to pretend that they were entirely invincible – a mystique built over centuries took on a life of its own, after all – but in many ways, they were just very, very old and powerful vampires. And tonight, Becca was tired.

She turned as she felt Damon enter the room. She watched as he stripped off his own dirty, wrinkled clothes, unable to avoid admiring the perfection of his body. As he joined her in the shower, she reluctantly searched for the words to tell him that she wasn't in the mood for their usual shower escapades, but he spoke first. His voice was soft, gently teasing. "Want some help to wash away that dead feeling?" She searched his eyes for a moment before nodding, surprised that, all joking aside, he seemed to share her reflective mood. Then she realized that she shouldn't be surprised, that he had felt something very similar to what she had felt when she thought she might lose him.

Damon stepped behind her and ran his hands down her body. He reached for her shampoo and began to wash her hair for her, and Becca closed her eyes in pleasure at the feel of his fingers massaging her scalp. He worked the soap into her long hair before turning her around to rinse her hair clean. Then he was back behind her, his hands working the tension from her neck and shoulders – and Damon had _very_ talented hands. Next he stroked her scented shower gel down her body in long smooth strokes, and Becca sighed as a feeling of bliss swept through her. It was by no means the first time that Damon had washed her, but there was something different, almost reverent, about his touch that night.

He was kneeling in front of her, working the shower gel over her flat belly and down her legs, his hands tracing the curve of her hips, when she opened her eyes. She watched him silently. His wet hair was plastered to his head and the water glistened across his muscular shoulders and toned chest. She thought it was the sexiest sight she had ever seen, although with Damon that thought seemed to cross her mind at least once a day. Becca smiled even as she spoke to hide her feelings. "You forgot conditioner."

Damon looked up at her with his crooked grin that melted her heart every time. "For a thousand-year old vampire, you're such a girl sometimes. Is that what that mysterious bottle is?"

Becca giggled as he stood up and handed it to her. "I know you know about conditioner." Damon was hardly a typical guy (or vampire) when it came to cleanliness – for one thing, he was inordinately fond of bubble baths. Becca couldn't quite figure that one out, although she wasn't about to complain about any activity that involved getting naked with Damon.

"What did you do before conditioner, anyway?"

"I spent a long time combing out my hair, or I had servants to do it."

"Yeah, I think I draw the line at that. I'd lose my guy card." Becca rubbed the conditioner through her hair, watching contentedly as Damon quickly shampooed his own hair. He had had an even more trying couple of days than she had, she knew, but he seemed composed, at least outwardly. She was always amazed at how resilient Damon was – she had seen it more than once during their long battle against Klaus. Physical pain never seemed to faze him; it was the emotional side of things that could leave Damon reeling. She could tell by the way he had touched her that he had been shaken by the day's events, but they were safe and they were together now. And that was all that mattered to Becca and, she thought, to Damon.

When they finally stepped out of the shower, Becca quickly dried herself off and wrapped a fluffy white towel around her body as she combed out her hair (easily, because of the conditioner – she did like the comforts of the twenty-first century). She watched Damon in the mirror as he wrapped his own towel around his waist. He still looked unreasonably sexy with his black hair damp and now sticking out at odd angles from the way he had toweled it off, his entire torso bare and glistening with a few remaining drops of water. She turned to face him and stepped close to him, reaching up to wrap her hands around his neck. "Thank you."

He smiled crookedly at her again in response. "You're welcome." Then he bent down and kissed her, a long, deep, tender kiss that wasn't at all like the way they usually attacked each other with passion but was somehow perfect for that moment.

Becca pulled Damon gently toward the bed, both of their towels falling to the floor before they were halfway there. Damon was touching her like she was the most precious thing in the world as she lay back on the bed, his lips and hands worshipping her body. She closed her eyes and let the sensations wash over her, pleasure sweeping through her muscles and leaving her trembling. Damon's voice was deep and a bit rough as he paused to speak. "I thought I had lost you today."

Becca opened her eyes at the tone of his voice. "You will not lose me." She hesitated before she dared to voice her own fears. "But when I saw what they had done to you, how they had hurt you . . ." She stopped, unable to continue.

Damon's blue eyes met hers, dark with passion and filled with uncharacteristic sincerity. "I'm okay. I'm hard to kill."

Becca just nodded, blinking back tears, and Damon was suddenly kissing her again, with more love and tenderness than she thought she had ever felt in her life. He took his time before finally joining their bodies, and he locked his gaze with hers as they came together. At that moment, Becca felt more certain than ever that their connection was far more than a fleeting physical passion. She knew that Damon loved her and she loved him, and they belonged to each other completely and totally.

Afterwards Becca lay facing Damon, her hand tracing patterns across his skin. She yawned, her eyes feeling suddenly heavy. Damon's blue eyes were bright with amusement as he watched her. "What?" she asked.

He laughed his low, husky laugh that she loved so much. "That's what I have to do to tire you out?"

Becca face curled in a smile, and she laughed too at that. After nights in which they had spent hours engaged in wild, passionate sex, it was indeed tonight that Becca felt her body and mind being pulled toward sleep. She justified it quietly. "Healing from a stake to the heart is tiring." Not to mention killing a 700 year-old vampire afterwards.

Damon's eyes and voice were soft. "You can sleep, you know. I've got you."

Becca shifted to lie curled in Damon's arms, and she felt herself drifting further toward sleep. After a moment of holding back, she relaxed and let herself go. She didn't have to watch her own back tonight; Damon would be there. For virtually the first time in hundreds of years (since dying didn't count), Becca fell asleep.

•••••

Damon found himself surprisingly content to lie there and just hold Becca, feeling her body relax even further against his as she slipped deeper into sleep. He knew she liked him, even loved him, and the passion between them was undeniable. But this was perhaps the first time that he had felt like Becca truly needed him. She was always so self-possessed, so self-sufficient. It wasn't surprising given how long she had lived and how powerful she was, but sometimes a guy wanted to be needed. But today with how she had rushed into his arms, the look in her eyes as they made love, the way she nestled against his body as she slept – Damon felt like this powerful, beautiful, just-perfectly-crazy woman actually needed him.

Clearly Becca's body could function just fine without sleep, but Damon was suddenly certain that the reason she hadn't slept in hundreds of years was because she hadn't trusted anyone (and people said _he_ had trust issues). He couldn't blame her, though, knowing that her own brother had killed her – and he could relate. After all, his father had killed him. Damon didn't know exactly what had happened to Becca before her death, bur he knew that something had once broken the carefree, fun-loving spirit that he knew. He was just beginning to grasp the phases of eternal life, the cycles of anger and despair and maybe, occasionally love. He knew Becca had deeply buried scars, far better hidden than his own, and he just wanted to heal her, to make her happy. He had been a fool for considering even the possibility that Elena might be a better match for him than Becca, Damon thought. Becca was perfect, and she was perfect for him.

It didn't even matter that both of them could have died that day, and in fact Becca actually _had_ died and come back to life (which had become a surprisingly common occurrence in Damon's world, but somehow wasn't something you ever quite got used to). In that moment, Damon Salvatore was happy. Over the decades, most of his dreams had been proven stupid and backfired in truly spectacular fashion (everything to do with Katherine came to mind), and Damon had tried hard to suppress his natural inclination to be something of a romantic. But he thought just then that his dream of holding the woman he loved in his arms knowing she felt the same way was actually living up to his hopes – and no, he would never admit to such a sappy thought at any time other than the middle of the night or to anyone other than himself.

As though she knew what he was thinking (and maybe she did – who knew what an Original could really do), Becca snuggled even closer to him, tangling her naked limbs with his and practically crawling on top of him. She gave a little sigh in her sleep as she nestled her head on his chest, and Damon groaned softly as the sound sent a wave of desire through him. He loved the way she cuddled with him shamelessly and was always touching him, as if she couldn't get enough of him, his skin, his touch. He couldn't get enough of her either, and if he hadn't known that Becca sleeping was apparently a once-in-five-hundred-years (give or take) occurrence, he would definitely be waking her up for sex right now. Instead, he just tightened his arms around her. But Damon was just as exhausted as Becca, and a few minutes later, he too drifted off to sleep.

•••••

Becca stirred slightly in the dark room, waking to find herself in Damon's arms. He was asleep, but he murmured her name possessively as she shifted. Becca let him pull her back against his body, not wanting to wake him. She lay there, contentedly listening to the slow, steady beating of Damon's heart. Her thoughts drifted inexplicably to the paradoxes of vampire hearts, reanimated through dark magic and the predatory act of drinking human blood, forced to spend eternity pumping the stolen blood of others through the vampire's body. Becca was well aware that there was nothing right or natural about it, but she had lived as a vampire for so very long that it had become all she really knew.

But what was truly broken about the hearts of most vampires, Becca thought, was not their physical functioning but their ability to feel, to love. And that was the thing about Damon. She knew that he had turned his emotions off for a long time, but she had never seen even a vampire _feel_ as intensely as Damon had in the months that she had known him. Broken as he was, she had never seen a vampire capable of loving so intensely. So Becca listened to the steady beat of Damon's heart that she knew had been shattered and pieced back together more than once, and she marveled that he had trusted her with it. Eventually, his heartbeat and soft breathing lulled her back to sleep, still in his arms.

•••••

Becca woke up again thoroughly relaxed. Damon was still holding her against him, and she sighed in pleasure at the feeling of his body twined with hers. The pale morning light of the room told her that they had slept in.

She heard Damon's low morning voice and felt it rumble through his chest. "How did you sleep?"

She smiled. "Very well. I had forgotten what sleep feels like."

She could hear the answering smile in his voice. "Gonna try it again?"

"Yes, as long as I have you to watch my back." She stroked her hand along the soft skin of his chest.

"I'm not going anywhere." Damon seemed no more inclined to break the relaxed mood of their morning than she was, and Becca was happy about that.

"Good." She gave another contented little sigh. "I could stay here forever."

Damon chuckled. "That works for me." They lay in peaceful silence for a few minutes before he surprised her. "I love you, Becca."

She hadn't expected him to say that. Damon was much more comfortable with conveying his feelings through actions rather than words. She had thought that he loved her, because of their blood bond and because of how he touched her, but it was still nice – really nice – to hear the words. "I love you, too, Damon." She thought then of just how long it had been since she had heard those words or said them.

Damon felt the change in her mood through the bond between them. "What is it?" His voice had deepened with concern.

Becca flipped around to face him, wanting to look into his eyes. "It has been eight hundred years since I have said those words." She felt tears in her eyes.

Damon's blue eyes glistened, too. He smiled crookedly. "No one has ever said them back to me and meant it."

Becca shrugged, the casual movement designed to conceal both the pain she felt for him and her secret happiness that those other women's foolishness had left Damon free to love her. "They were fools, and their loss is my gain." She shifted forward and kissed him fiercely. When she finally pulled away, she smiled at how Damon's ice blue eyes sparkled with all the fire and passion and humor that she loved so much.

**A/N:** _And another author's note, since I consider this the emotional half-way point of the story, although I'm hoping it won't take fifteen more chapters to finish it! Updates may slow down a little since I need to get the plot in order over the next few chapters and I should probably do that before I post them. You can look forward to a lot more movement on the plot coming up, plus a lot more emotional angst for Damon and Becca to deal with (because as much as I like writing these two just being happy together - poor Damon never gets to be happy on the show, after all - the story needs more drama than that). Of course, reviews help motivate me to keep writing!  
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	16. Chapter 16

**A/N:** _Okay, not a ton of forward movement on the plot in this chapter after all. What can I say - it's a slow burn kind of story. Thanks to those who have added this story to their alerts and favorites lists. It means a lot to me to know that people are reading and enjoying it!_

**Chapter 16**

Becca opened the refrigerator and stared at the blood bags inside. She was hungry after the previous day, and blood bags just didn't look satisfying. She shut the door and turned to Damon. "Want to go out to breakfast?"

Damon looked puzzled. "Out to breakfast?"

"Yeah, we can go a couple of towns over." She looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to make the connection.

It took him a second. "Oh, you mean . . ." He didn't finish his sentence, but Becca knew he understood what she was thinking. There was no need to say it out loud with other vampire ears around. She knew perfectly well that Stefan would not approve of her idea, and while she didn't much care what he thought, she didn't think that Damon needed any more drama from his brother and Elena. Damon continued after a moment. "Why not? I could use a good healthy breakfast."

A few minutes later, Damon pulled his car out of the driveway. "I think I know just the place. There's a campground about thirty miles from here, and hikers make tasty meals. I think it's all the fresh air and exercise. Plus the animal attack excuse is much more credible out in the woods."

Becca laughed softly before offering him an explanation. "I am hungry after yesterday, and blood bags every day get boring. Why shouldn't we eat fresh occasionally?"

Damon grinned. "I couldn't agree more. We better not tell Elena – or even Ric – though. They wouldn't approve."

"No, they would not. I suppose I cannot blame them, since they are human, after all."

"You wouldn't want anyone eating your kind?"

Becca glanced at him mischievously. "Well, I do not mind when _you_ bite me."

She saw Damon's eyes darken slightly as he looked over at her. "You're making me want to turn this car right back around." But he didn't, and it didn't take long before he was pulling the Camaro into a campground. The convertible looked more than a little out of place among the spattering of SUVs, pick-up trucks, and one lone Prius parked in the hiking section.

Becca followed Damon down one of the trails as they sought out an isolated area and some promising prey. They had moved a good distance into the forest when Becca heard a pair of heartbeats. A moment later she caught sight of two hikers, a man and a woman. She looked questioningly toward Damon and he nodded. These two humans would be their prey.

Damon's whisper was almost silent. "Feed and compel, like we did in D.C.?"

"Yes." Becca was glad that they were in agreement on that. They would have their fun, and a tasty meal, and the humans would walk away little the worse for it.

Becca started to move forward, but Damon held her back with a hand on her arm. His whisper would once again have been inaudible to human ears. "Watch this."

He closed his eyes, and a moment later, a fog began to gather around the two hikers. Becca watched, impressed. Very few vampires ever learned to tap into the strange magic at the core of their nature as Damon had just done. She wondered where he had learned this trick. She grinned at him. "Very nice."

She watched gleefully as the two humans looked around in confusion at the sudden appearance of the fog, and Becca heard their heart rates accelerate in fear. She knew there was a predatory smile on her face, and she saw a matching glitter in Damon's blue eyes. As much as the humans might not like it, this was part of their nature as vampires, and Becca refused to suppress her instincts entirely. After the previous few days, she was convinced that it was important that they stay sharp. Just because Klaus was dead did not mean that they did not still have enemies, that _she_ did not still have enemies. Becca had never liked William, but she believed that he was too smart to have attacked her on his own. Someone else had been behind it, and she suspected her sister Magdalena, although she had no real proof and, in fact, little logical reason for the feeling.

She watched as the human woman clutched the man's arm. "I don't like this fog. It came out of nowhere."

"I'm sure it's nothing, honey." The pounding of his heart belied his words, however, and Becca smiled, knowing he was her prey.

"Seriously, Mark. I feel like I'm in a horror movie or something." Even at a distance, Becca could see the woman shudder. This, she knew, was the genius of Damon's fog trick. Becca hadn't seen a lot of horror movies, but she and Damon had held a vampire movie marathon one night during the months spent tracking Klaus so she had some idea of what the humans were thinking. She could smell their fear, and it was intoxicating.

"Come on. Relax, Deborah."

"That's easy for you to say. It's always the girl who dies first in the horror movie." Deborah gave an uneasy laugh, and Becca decided maybe she liked the woman. It was good that they weren't planning to kill her.

Damon caught her eye, and Becca knew it was time. They sped forward in unison and were on the two humans before either could even scream. Becca effortlessly jerked the much larger man, Mark, down so that she could capture his eyes. She compelled him quickly to forget the whole experience even as she felt her fangs descending at the scent of his blood and his fear, and a second later, she was sinking her fangs into his neck. His blood was warm and fresh, flavored by terror as it pumped into her, and Becca drank slowly. She had to stop before she wanted to, careful not to take too much blood from her prey, and she looked up to see that Damon was also pulling away from his victim.

Becca felt a wave of desire sweep through her at the sight of Damon's vampire face. He was just as beautiful like this as he was with his human face, she thought, as she admired the way the red contrasted with the normal blue of his eyes and the way the veins traced along his high, defined cheekbones. Her eyes met his as she dropped the man she had been drinking from. He discarded his prey just as quickly and flew across the short distance to her, pulling her body to him as their lips met. Becca brushed her tongue lightly over one of Damon's fangs, feeling a sharp sting and tasting the coppery tang of blood. Damon growled at the taste of her blood in his mouth, and she felt his grip on her tighten. She threw her head back in ecstasy as Damon abandoned her mouth and dug his fangs into her neck. She tore Damon's shirt from his body as he fumbled with her clothes. If the previous night had been tender and gentle and human, that morning was wild and carnal and all vampire as they took full advantage of their indestructible bodies.

•••••

Damon glared at Becca, although there was no real anger in it. Not after the morning they'd had. After everything that they had been through the previous day, hunting together had proven highly erotic – the sex had been fucking amazing, even more so than usual with them. Well worth the loss of a few clothes, although that didn't mean Damon wasn't going to complain a little. "What did you do to my shirt?" He held up what looked like little more than a black rag.

"Sorry." Becca smirked at him unrepentantly as she pulled on her jeans, looking pleased that those had survived intact. Her shirt was also looking more than a little the worse for wear as Damon spotted it on a branch half way across the clearing.

He turned around suddenly at the sound of footsteps. He groaned as two newcomers, a man and a woman, entered the clearing. The woman stared at him. At first, Damon assumed that it was because he was shirtless with his jeans still unbuttoned, but then he saw the look of recognition on her face. "Damon Salvatore?"

Shit, Damon thought. She was a little old to really be his type, although that didn't guarantee that he hadn't hooked up with her when drunk. If she had been a snack, she wouldn't remember him. . . . "Do I know you?" He quickly buttoned his pants.

The woman smiled brightly. "Carol Lockwood introduced us at a party last year. Fancy running into you out here." Her focus was entirely on Damon and his state of undress, ignoring both Becca and the man at her side entirely. "I'm Amanda, Amanda Fell-Johnson."

Damon felt a small sense of relief that his connection with this woman was apparently innocent. "Sorry, Amanda." He debated offering an excuse about being bad at names, or meeting so many people at those damn parties, before he decided to skip all the justifications. He was just going to compel the woman anyway. He took a couple of steps closer to Amanda and looked directly into her eyes.

Suddenly, Becca was there by his side. His heart couldn't help but give a little skip at the sight of her wearing only her bra and jeans. And how the hell had he failed to destroy her bra in the heat of everything? Becca's voice was deceptively mild, although Damon thought maybe he detected just a hint of jealousy. "Amanda, would you happen to have a shirt I can borrow? And one for Damon?"

Damon hadn't even noticed it, but there was apparently a compulsion behind those words because Amanda promptly took off her backpack and knelt down to dig in it. "Actually, I do. I always bring an extra when we go hiking in case I get too sweaty." She glanced up at the man with her. "Wade, dear, you have an extra shirt in your bag, too. Can you get it out?"

Amanda pulled out a red tank top and handed it to Becca, who promptly pulled it on over her head. Wade had found the shirt in his bag and tossed it to Damon, who caught it. Damon stared at the shirt in his hands. "You have got to be kidding me." It was a yellow t-shirt that said West Virginia football.

Becca smirked at him as she turned to the couple. "Thank you, Amanda. Now you will forget that you ever saw us here today."

"I never saw you."

Damon watched as Becca compelled Wade and the couple left the clearing, continuing on their hike. He was still standing there holding the ridiculous shirt. Of course, Becca got a perfectly nice tank top that fit her well – in fact, it hugged her breasts just perfectly, if Damon did say so himself – and he got this. "I can't wear this."

Becca giggled. "That is fine. You can just go shirtless. I do not mind."

Damon sighed and reluctantly pulled on the shirt. Normally, he would choose the shirtless option, but the woods weren't really his thing and he felt more comfortable, more civilized, wearing a shirt. Even that shirt. (And yes, he was aware of the irony of wanting to feel civilized after hunting for his breakfast.) Plus one encounter with someone from Mystic Falls when he was half-dressed was enough for one day.

Now that they were decent, Damon and Becca strolled down one of the trails through the woods, fingers interlaced. Damon wasn't exactly big on nature, but he thought they could both use some peace after the previous couple of days. And he really wasn't ready to go back to the house just yet, and back to trying to figure out who exactly was behind that attempt to use him to trap Becca. Becca was looking around the forest in wonder, her face alight with excitement, and Damon couldn't help but smile too at her expression. He reached over with his free hand and pulled a twig from her hair, which was adorably messy from their earlier activities.

Becca squeezed his hand. "I see why people in this era put so much value on preserving nature. It is so different from the town or city." She turned to him. "I want to see all kinds of places – rainforests and deserts and mountains and glaciers. I saw a glacier once when I was a young vampire. I wonder if it is even still there?"

"Probably. Don't glaciers pretty much last forever, even by our standards?"

Becca shook her head. "Not according to the environmentalists. They say they are disappearing."

"Oh, yeah. Global warming." Damon looked down at Becca with amusement. "What kinds of things have you been reading now to turn all nature-girl on me?"

She grinned at him. "John Muir and David Brower and Al Gore. And Henry David Thoreau."

"Those must be Stefan's."

Becca's eyes twinkled. "Not the Thoreau. I found it in your bookshelf, and it says 'happy birthday, Damon' inside, dated 1857."

Damon groaned. "I was just a kid – you can't hold that against me."

"It was a present from Stefan, right?" When Damon raised his eyebrows at her, she elaborated. "The inscription was in a child's handwriting."

Damon smiled slightly in spite of himself. "Yeah." Stefan had been so excited when he had given him that book. It had been before the war, well before Katherine, and they had both been so young and innocent then. Their father hadn't approved, of course, particularly since Thoreau had also written anti-slavery tracts, and Damon had had to hide the book. . . . He cut off the memory, not wanting to remember his past and his father.

Becca was looking at him searchingly. "Tell me what you were like when you were human."

Damon shook his head. "Nope. It's too nice a day for depressing topics like that."

"Okay, but I will get it out of you someday."

Damon was sure that she would. He couldn't really deny Becca anything. They walked for a few more minutes in silence before Becca spoke again. "You will come with me to see all of the beautiful natural places, yes?"

"They'll be new to me, too." Nature tourism had never exactly made it onto Damon's to-do list. After a moment, he added, "I'll have to steal some of Ric's plaid shirts to fit in."

Becca hit his arm lightly. "Silly."

Damon grinned at her and caught her hand, stroking her palm. "I'll come as long as you add beaches to the list."

"Yes, of course, beaches."

"It's a deal then." Damon stopped, deciding that a deal like that should be sealed with a kiss. Becca read his mind, or maybe his emotions, as he turned to face her, and she reached up to wrap her arms around Damon's neck. He captured her lips with his for a teasing kiss even as he brought his hands around to cup her perfectly shaped ass and draw her body against his. He deepened the kiss as she moaned into his mouth. Damon knew he would do just about anything with, and for, this woman.

•••••

They settled on a bench looking over a stream, Becca nestling against Damon's side. He put his arm around her. After a few minutes of companionable silence, Damon finally decided to ask a serious question. With everything that had happened, he had no idea how the meeting with her siblings had turned out. "So how did it go in Chicago? Did you manage to convince your siblings of the charms of the twenty-first century?'

Becca sighed, and Damon thought she looked worried. "It did not go well. I am afraid that my sister Magdalena may be behind all of this. William – the vampire who captured us – always did have a thing for her."

Damon understood Becca's worried look then, but he responded with his trademark insincerity. "Your family makes me glad I only have one sibling. Plus the idea of more than one Stefan is a scary thought. I'm not sure the world could handle that much brooding." He gave an exaggerated shudder.

His comment managed to bring a smile to Becca's face. "At least your brother is not trying to build a supernatural army."

"No, and that's just as well since I don't think Stefan would make a very good general." Damon paused, suddenly feeling reflective. "Katherine liked to build up a collection of followers. I guess that's what she probably had planned for me, why she gave me her blood." Thanks to Becca, he could actually think about Katherine with only a twinge of pain, mostly for his own stupidity. "Why do you think that's your sister's plan?" he added.

Becca ignored the real question. "You would not have made a very good follower."

Damon pretended to be offended. "What do you mean? Are you saying I don't take orders well?"

"I am saying exactly that. And I love that about you." Becca's warm brown eyes met his, and Damon suddenly desperately wanted to kiss her. But she turned back to stare at the stream before he could do so, and she spoke again, quietly. "I do not know how to get Magdalena to see that there are other options, other ways to live than always trying to amass power."

Damon's thoughts were going in a different direction. "Doesn't Magdalena care about you? Because that William guy definitely knew you were coming and was ready for you."

Becca shook her head. "No, I do not believe Magdalena cares about me. We were never close. She was too much older, and she just found me annoying as a child. I used to do things like climb up the balcony and spy on her trysts. I was never a proper little girl. My parents were rather indulgent, probably since I was the youngest, but Magdalena never liked me."

"I'll bet you were adorable." Damon could just imagine Becca as a curious, free spirited child, and he knew from personal experience how such children were treated in a conservative society. He was just glad that her spirit had survived, since it was a big part of what he loved about her.

Becca was still lost in her memories. "Even when I got older, I had no patience for the court games that Magdalena loved. By the time we became vampires, we seldom saw each other."

"She _is _your sister. Surely she must care about you, at least a little."

Becca sounded doubtful. "It is hard to care, as a vampire. You know that."

"Yeah, I know." Damon thought about the extreme emotions that he felt as a vampire. It had been so very hard to let those emotions back in. He wasn't at all sure that he would have done it on purpose, and he had wanted to turn his emotions off more than once since they had come back.

Becca was in a similarly reflective mood. "And it gets harder, every time you lose someone you care about."

They were both silent for a long time after that, listening to the stream as it meandered through the forest and the birds chirping in the trees. Finally, Becca spoke again, changing the subject. "I should not have let that witch live yesterday."

Damon sighed. "Probably not. But it was good for inter-friend relations that you did. I can tell you from personal experience that Ric can hold a grudge about so-called unnecessary killing. Do you really think that Elijah is working on some sort of supernatural peace initiative?"

"I will call him today. But it is the sort of thing that he would do, now that Klaus is gone."

Damon snorted. "I guess everyone needs a hobby, but that is never going to work. This is the real world. Are we going to have vampire elections every four years or something?"

Becca looked up at him. "Maybe it could work."

Damon smiled teasingly at her. "Aren't you too old to be an optimist?"

"If I am, then you are too young to be a pessimist."

Damon shrugged. "Nah, I'm worse than that. I'm a fatalist."

Becca shook her head in denial and scrunched up her nose in the most adorable way. "No, you are not. You fight too hard to be a fatalist."

Damon bent down and kissed her softly, deciding to drop the topic of fate before he lost the argument completely. "We'll figure this out." He thought they could manage anything together, but he wasn't about to admit to Becca that she might be turning him into an optimist.

**A/N: **_I know the show will probably never bring back the fog from early season 1, but I couldn't resist including it._


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N:** _Sorry about the delay in updating - my internet went out for a few days, and then I had deadlines at work, but I'm back now, hopefully. Thanks for reading and reviews are much appreciated!_

**Chapter 17**

Damon and Becca had just walked back into the boarding house when Stefan approached. He stared at Damon. "What are you wearing?"

Damon glanced down at himself. He had forgotten about the ridiculous yellow t-shirt. He shrugged.

Becca chimed in mischievously. "Damon lost his shirt."

Stefan grinned. "I don't suppose I'm going to get the story of how? And how you ended up wearing that?"

Damon shook his head. "You don't want to know, Stefan."

"Yeah, I think I do."

"Nope." Damon headed for the stairs, dragging Becca after him. "I'm going to go take a shower. And burn this shirt." Both Stefan and Becca laughed at that, and he sighed.

It was when Damon came back downstairs after his shower, now dressed in one of his own designer black button-down shirts and a clean pair of jeans, that the trouble started.

Stefan found him in the library. "You fed today, didn't you?"

Damon didn't meet his brother's eyes. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You went hunting. For humans."

Damon shrugged. "So what if I did? Drop it, Stefan."

Stefan sounded worried. "Damon . . . ."

"I didn't kill anyone, alright Stefan? The girl I fed from will be just fine after a good meal. Unlike you, I have control."

Stefan's forehead wrinkles were twice their usual size. "Did Becca put you up to this?"

Damon knew his eyes were flashing with annoyance. "Becca has nothing to do with it. I make my own choices, Stefan."

Things only got worse when Elena crept into the room, looking stricken. Damon had a bad feeling that she had overheard too much of that conversation, and her words confirmed it. "Damon, don't do this. Please."

He played dumb. "Do what?"

Elena looked at him with those big brown eyes. "Don't go back to being the vampire you were when you arrived here, the one that didn't care about anything and terrorized the town."

Damon ran his fingers through his hair. "Jesus, Elena. I'm not going back, okay? But sometimes a guy needs to eat a fresh meal."

Elena gave him another pleading look. "Damon, she was a person."

Damon decided not to correct the past tense. Apparently they didn't get that the girl was still alive. "And I'm a vampire. Who eats people. I can't fucking change that, even if I wanted to." He paused before adding, "which, by the way, I don't." Stefan and Elena were both staring at him with nearly identical expressions of condemnation, and Damon rolled his eyes as he looked from one to the other. "This conversation is over." He left the room.

•••••

Becca found him upstairs in his bedroom, staring out his window. She slipped quietly up beside him. "I am sorry. It was my idea." She had heard the whole argument with Stefan and Elena, of course, and she had barely been able to hold herself back from rushing in there to defend Damon and take the blame, even though she knew he wouldn't want her to do that.

Damon glanced down at her. "You heard that, did you?" He turned his gaze back out the window. "It's not your fault. It was a great idea, and I'm glad we did it."

Becca's heart broke at the hurt look in his blue eyes. "I am still sorry. You should not have had to go through that."

"Nothing I do will ever be good enough." She could hear the hurt in his voice now.

She touched his arm softly. "Damon, that is not true."

"It's the story of my life." His voice dripped with bitterness. "You asked about when I was human – Stefan was the golden boy and I was the screw-up. And it's still like that."

"No, it is not." Becca reached up and grabbed Damon's head, gently turning him to look at her. She needed him to hear this. "You are beautiful and amazing and strong. I do not know what you were like before, but I know that you have found your way to being a good vampire, a vampire who cares. I know that you will do anything for the people you love, including Stefan and Elena, and they have no right to say those things to you." She felt tears in her own eyes.

Damon shook his head slightly, looking doubtful. "You've only known me a few months, Becca. . . ."

She cut him off before he could say another thing to disparage himself. "That does not matter. I know who you are now." She hesitated a moment before continuing. Her instincts, like Damon's, were to avoid emotional vulnerability, but he was stripped bare before her right now and she wanted him to know that he wasn't alone in his insecurities. "As for you and Stefan, it is hard to avoid falling into old patterns. When I saw my sister Magdalena in Chicago . . . Well, she has always been so beautiful and elegant, and she still makes me feel dumpy and messy and childish."

Damon stared at her. "You? Becca, you're the most beautiful woman in the world." His blue eyes were filled now with love and compassion, and he seemed to have forgotten entirely about his own pain to soothe her fears. Becca smiled to herself at that – Damon had a sweet and caring side that he hid from almost everyone, and she loved the many layers to him.

She kept her voice light. "You might be biased."

Damon shook his head, his own tone teasing now. "Nope, I've done an extensive study."

"Oh, really?"

"Mmm hmm." He brushed his lips gently against hers before pulling away teasingly. Becca tugged his head back down to her, determined to keep him distracted. Plus, she never got tired of kissing Damon.

•••••

Stefan listened with one ear as Becca tried to offer comfort to Damon upstairs. Like so many conversations with his brother, that had not gone at all like he had intended. He hadn't meant to hurt Damon or accuse him of anything. He did understand that his brother wasn't like him and could feed without killing, and he knew that was perfectly normal and acceptable behavior for a vampire, even if he didn't personally exactly approve. He had just wanted to make sure that was in fact what Damon was doing. But of course Elena had walked in and everything had gone wrong, because she _didn't_ understand what it meant to be a vampire.

And Elena was still there, looking at him with worry shining from her eyes. "It's Becca, isn't it? She's a bad influence on him."

Stefan shook his head. He had no idea how to fix this now. "I don't think it's that simple, Elena. I'm not going to say that I have Becca figured out, because I don't, but . . . "

Elena cut him off before he could finish. "Of course, it's that simple. She's convinced him to start feeding from humans again."

Stefan sighed. "It's true that Becca may encourage Damon to lead more of a vampire lifestyle than you or I would like, but he's right that he can feed without killing. He's the opposite of me, Elena. I can't control the bloodlust, and he's always had that under control. When Damon snaps, it's because he gets overwhelmed by his emotions. And . . ." Stefan paused, thinking about how to say what he had to say next. "I think Becca can help him with that. I think she really loves him, and he loves her." He smiled softly at Elena. "And you and I both know how powerful a force love can be."

He knew that was a bit of a blatant manipulation, especially given how their relationship had been going lately, but he needed to get through to her somehow. Stefan thought back to the previous day when Damon and Becca and Alaric had returned with a slightly disappointed Caroline (because she had wanted to help more with the rescue). Everyone had been so relieved to find Damon safe, if more than a little disheveled, that they had gathered around demanding the full story. Damon and Ric had been explaining everything when Damon had suddenly realized that Becca, who, oddly, had been just as disheveled as Damon, had slipped out of the room. A moment later, Damon was leaving, too, following the Original upstairs, and Stefan had started to stop his brother before he felt Alaric's hand on his arm. "Let him go," the teacher had said. "I saw how distraught he was – they both were – when they thought they had lost each other. Let them just be together."

Stefan had nodded reluctantly, and he had listened as Alaric did his best to fill everyone in on the rest of the story. It was a few hours later when he had gently shoved open his brother's door, aware of the silence inside and hoping he might be able to get some answers. He had found Damon and Becca asleep, Damon possessively holding Becca to him and their bodies locked together. Stefan remembered how he had frozen in surprise, mostly because he had never considered his vampire big brother the type to cuddle. In fact, he had planned to give Damon a hard time about that at the first opportunity, but he had thought better of it when he considered that, although it might seem out-of-character for the bad ass vampire Damon, his human brother had been exactly the type to cuddle all night with the woman he loved.

As a boy, Damon had been both rebellious and soft-hearted, and Stefan wasn't sure which characteristic their father had hated more. Damon had been about thirteen, he remembered, when the two of them had found a baby bird that had fallen out of its nest. They had decided to raise it themselves and hidden it in the barn, but one of the cats had gotten to it the next day. Giuseppe had caught Damon crying over the dead bird, and he had beaten Damon mercilessly while Stefan had hidden, too young and scared to know what to do. Stefan would never forget how Damon had whimpered all night, unable to sleep with his back torn to shreds because compassion was not a characteristic to be encouraged in Southern gentlemen. Stefan suspected that their father had sent Damon to war in part to break that side of his brother, and whatever the war had done to him had been augmented by Katherine – the two had so blended together that Stefan had never sorted out exactly who Damon had become at that point, and none of them would ever know how Damon might have righted himself if Katherine had never come to Mystic Falls.

But Stefan would never forget the brother he had grown up with, how Damon had been an entirely different person before Katherine and the war, and before Stefan himself had shattered his brother's soul and forced him to become a vampire. Stefan had always known that he could never get that brother back, that he had kept his brother with him for eternity at the cost of losing a large part of him forever.

The sight of Damon and Becca together that night, holding each other almost desperately, had been the first time that he had thought that it might be Becca who restored another piece of Damon's humanity. Stefan's experiences with Klaus and Elijah had led to a distrust of Originals, but he was starting to think that Becca might be different. Maybe she really did want nothing more than a life with his brother.

And Stefan would be lying if he said he didn't feel a sense of relief that Damon was no longer pursuing Elena. He was well aware of Elena's jealousy at the prospect of Damon having moved on, but Stefan hoped that if Damon was truly no longer interested in Elena, he might still be able to salvage his own relationship.


End file.
